Allen Iverson is one of the most high profile NBA free agents left on the market, and several teams have expressed interest in the dynamic guard. On Wednesday, Iverson sent a Twitter update indicating that the Memphis Grizzlies had made him an offer. Later that night, that information was confirmed by Memphis GM Chris Wallace.

Iverson had received the most interest from the Charlotte Bobcats and Miami Heat. Both teams have a lot of upside for ‘The Answer’-the Bobcats are coached by his Larry Brown, whom Iverson played for in Philadelphia. The notoriously hard to coach Iverson has always held Brown in high regard, and on a team struggling to find an identity he’d receive a lot of playing time and be the focal point of the team’s offense. Miami would likely use Iverson in a reserve role.

From a financial standpoint, however, there are problems with both Miami and Charlotte. The Heat is already over the salary cap, and simply doesn’t have the personnel budget to pay Iverson what he could demand elsewhere. Charlotte, meanwhile, is up for sale and for that reason under severe financial constraints. They’d likely be able to offer Iverson a short term deal with the prospect for renegotiation later, but that may not be something he’s interested in.

Memphis, on the other hand, has $3.5 million dollars of free space under the salary cap. They could easily outbid either Miami or Charlotte, and would also make Iverson the focal point of the team. While GM Wallace confirmed that they’d made a formal offer to “AI” he was mum on the specific terms:

“We’re heading into the home stretch before the season, and we have had interest in Allen all summer. We’ve been in touch on a fairly consistent basis and had dialogue with his agent, Leon Rose, since the beginning of free agency. We’ll probably add another guard at some point, but we don’t need to rush to do it.”

The enigmatic Iverson appeared in only 57 games for the Nuggets and Pistons due to injury and averaged a career-low 17.5 points per game. His reputation for infighting with teammates and coaches is as legendary as his aversion to practice. On the other hand, no one has ever questioned his talented, toughness or work ethic when the game starts. Iverson remains one of the most potent scoring threats in the sport and his willingness to play through injuries that would land most NBA players on the disabled list has made him a fan favorite. And that might be the crux of his appeal in Memphis-on a team going nowhere Iverson will put butts in the seats and get the local community excited about the Grizzles which is something that they’ve been unable to do with any regularity.

Sports fans love to brag about their trivia knowledge. Many of the facts out there are pretty commonplace, almost shameful if you don’t know them. Whether it’s Babe Ruth’s career home run total, Michael Jordan’s jersey number, or anything else like this, they’ve become a part of pop culture.

Interestingly enough, there are plenty of obscure facts out there that happen to be just as impressive, interesting, and entertaining, as any of the more obvious ones. Let’s have a look at some of these examples. It’ll give you some great bait for parties.

For example, Duke Farrell, a former professional catcher, once threw out 8 men trying to steal a base in one game. Might as well have credited him with the win, that’s 8 outs he caused and 8 potential runs he saved.

During a 1966 tennis match between Rodger Taylor and Wieslaw Gasiorek at the Kings Cup, a total of 126 games were played between the two. Eventually, officials insisted upon a draw.

Many players in recent years have served above 130 MPH, a few above 140, and a select few above 150, but Michael Sangster of England served 154 MPH in 1963, all done with a wooden racquet.

The summer olympics are the most watched sports event in the world, followed by the World Cup. What comes next? Any guesses? Don’t even try, because you’ll probably never get it. It’s Formula One Racing.

The longest drive in the history of golf was hit by a British man by the name of Edward Bliss in 1913. He was only 182 pounds at the time, and more impressively, was just 50 years old. This drive went 445 yards.

Bill Veeck, former owner of the Cubs, hired midgets to serve food in the stands. His reasoning was that no fans would have their views of the field blocked.

Shaquille O’Neal’s shoe size is a 22. All of his sneakers are specially made for him and his huge feet.

In ancient Japan, there were contests held on a weekly basis to see who could fart the loudest and the longest. How’s that for a weird sport?

Satchel Paige, a former Negro League baseball player, pitched at 59 years old as a Major League baseball pitcher. Many say he was one of the greatest pitchers to ever play the game.

Los Angeles Lakers: The key here will be can Ron Artest and Kobe Bryant play nicetogether? We all assume Bynum, Gasol, Odom, and fisher will play as they did last year. Trevor Ariza surprisingly was the sleeper last season and Ron Artest doesn’t seem to be a good fit. Yes, he has amazing defense and he is big but Ariza understood his role was to be a pesky defender, shoot the long ball, and challenge the perimeter player to beat him to the rim.

Artest often takes over games and likes to be the focal point of his teams. This won’t be possible in LA as long as Kobe Bryant is on the court. The adjustment in roles may be an easy shift for Artest, but if he doesn’t take well to it, things could be murky come playoff time. Regardless, the Lakers should easily win their division during the regular season.

San Antonio Spurs - The knock on the Spurs has been their affinity to injuries, and the fact that both Duncan and Ginobili are on the other side of 30. The window for this team closes each year, but Jefferson and McDyess should give this team a much needed burst of life. This previously shallow team suddenly became much deeper with these two, and the Spurs are the favorite (if there is one) to dethrone LA.

Dallas Mavericks. It seems like this team always enters the season with high hopes, only to quietly exit during the first round of the playoffs. With some big additions in Shawn Marion and others, Dirk and Jason Kidd have a nice core in place now. Josh Howard’s effectiveness will be a question mark, and the development of Barea will be key.

Boston Celtics - I believe that the Celtics’ best days are behind them. The only improving forces on the team are the young players in Rondo, Perkins, Powe, and Davis, but this isn’t enough to offset the decline of players like Garnett, Allen, and Pierce, all one year older. Rasheed Wallace should definitely improve the team, but there’s much competition in the East this season and I don’t think he’ll be enough.

Cleveland Cavaliers: Cleveland, you are expected to make those Kobe/LeBron ABCpuppet commercialsuseful come June 2010. No excuses will be accepted. You lost nobody and gained a bunch. Williams and West will continue to be one of the topduo of guards in the league. Varejao will need to prove he was worth 50 million as he did against Orlando in the Conference Finals last year. His flaw is he cannot defend the outside which reallyhurt Cleveland last year. He needs to reinventhis defense to cover the perimeter.Shaq, will need to be Diesel and not “Dwight you stole my name and my All-Star spot”. Shaq will need to cut out the T.V. antics and really focus because he is not the Shaq he was in L.A. in his late 20’searly 30’sIlgauskas will be upset but have to realize the team wants to win a championship and he is not the starting center to get them there.

There’s not much of a bench in Cleveland at all, but I’m not so sure as to how much they really need one. Bench players may see 15 minutes or less per game, and the starters should jump this team out to some big leads that the bench really only needs to worry about preserving. Cleveland could definitely go all the way in 2010.

Orlando Magic. The victors in last year’s Eastern Conference finals knocked out both Boston (though without Garnett) and Cleveland, to the surprise of many. They’ve lost Hedo Turkoglu and Courtney Lee, both valuable pieces, but the additions of Vince Carter, Matt Barnes, and Brandon Bass should more than make up for that in the eyes of most. Vince Carter’s impact on a team is questionable seeing as how the Nets have fallen from grace these past few years, but with the right fit, the Magic will look better than before and remain the team to beat in the East.