Tim Duncan, NBA Draft Notes and some baseball thoughts


The NBA Finals seemed to come and go faster than John Goodman works at the Sizzler buffet. Othe surface it appeared to be the most boring playoff series of our generation. Oh heck, it was the bost boring playoff series of our generation!!!! But buried beneath all of that dreary boredom is a player who has placed himself among the greatest to ever play the game and that player is Tim Duncan.

Tim Duncan IS the Spurs. He is the best player on 4 different championship teams. Yet, because he has the personality of a paper plate, it seems as though the media wants to give everyone around him more credit. Tony Parker is my first example. He is a good NBA player, not a great NBA player. He gets extra credit for the Spurs success because of two factors. Firstly, his status as Mr. Eva Longoria. Secondly, he exists in Duncan's wake. Replace Tony Parker with Leandro Barbosa and the Spurs still win the same amount.

Two much lesser examples are Manu Ginobili and Greg Popovich. Its tough to be critical of these two because they are both very good at what they do. Popovich is smart enough to know that his star shines as long as Duncan's does and he rides it. And the only real criticism you can make of Ginobili is his hygeine. But these two still would never have ascended to the pinnacle of the sport if they were not saddling up Tim Duncan.

At this stage of history the only NBA legends I would rank ahead of Duncan are Russell, Wilt, Jordan, Kareem, Bird, and Magic. Thats it. And you can't give me Shaq. Shaq is certainly a top 10 player in history, but he always had much more help than Duncan. Shaq won 3 titles with Kobe, and one with Dwyane Wade. The best player Duncan had next to him was an over the hill David Robinson. As much as I love Ginobili, he can't win a series single handedly like Kobe or Wade. Shaq could rest on offense for long stretches and Kobe and Wade made it very hard to double him. Duncan is the focal point of everything all the time and he's always double teamed. But he rarely makes a bad decision. The guy is a legend, even if it seems like no one really cares!!!

One of my favorite events of the year is the NBA Draft. Mostly because I generally believe that the majority of NBA general managers are woefully inept at their craft. With that said, here are some random thoughts about the draft.

Can't say i'm surprised about the Celtics moronic acquisition of Ray Allen for the first round pick and Delonte West. if Ainge's goal is to be the 6 seed in the East for two years before he drops back in the lottery, he's right on track.

I have dental floss with more bulk than Kevin Durant.

What are the Milwaukee Bucks doing? Yi Jianlian, the dude from China, declared he didn't want to go to Milwaukee because there are 6 Asians in the whole state. Then when you keep in mind that no one has ever seen him play against anybody, is he the right pick at #6 in one of the deepest drafts ever????

And while I'm at it, Sacramento butchered their first rounder as well. I guess because Brad Miller was out for much of the year that the fans missed having a big white stiff to boo. So the Kings leave two players on the board who go top 5 any other year (Julian Wright and Al Thornton) to fill their big white stiff quota with Spencer Hawes.

The Atlanta Hawks did very well. They got a developed high quality big player in Al Horford and a savvy NBA ready point guard in Acie Law. All they need is a decent head coach and this team could actually be interesting. Rick Carlisle would turn that program around.

The Charlotte Bobcats made a great trade. They didn't need another rookie, unless it was Oden, Durant, or maybe Horford. Jason Richardson is one of the more underrated players in the league. And you can't love Brandan Wright when he had effort issues as a freshman. You always trade a maybe for a sure thing. They also made a great pick at #22 in Jared Dudley.

The Knicks made a good trade. Channing Frye is a dog. He can't defend and he's a physically weak player. Zach Randolph may be nuts, but he can score and he really can rebound. The Knicks would be smart to install metal detectors at Randolph's home, their practice facility, and the Garden, you know, just in case.

And maybe just maybe, this trade is the pre-cursor to Isiah having a fleeting fit of sense and deciding to package Eddy "Shrek" Curry and get in the mix for Kevin Garnett, Kobe, or Jermaine O'Neal. Please read that last line again and note how stupid it sounds.

My favorite picks of the first round, besides Oden and Durant of course, are Jeff Green at 5 to Seattle via Boston, Joakim Noah at 9 to Chicago, Al Thornton at 14 to the Clippers, Jared Dudley to Charlotte @ 22, and the steal of the draft, University of Wisconsin's Alando Tucker to Phoenix @29. Reminds me of a late first rounder the Suns selected, also from Wisconsin, named Michael Finley.

My favorite picks of the 2nd round are Glen Davis to Boston via Seattle, Chris Richard to Minnesota, Derrick Byars to Philly via Portland, Taurean Green to Portland, and Demetrious Nichols to the Knicks via Portland.

And to close this evening, a few random baseball thoughts:

The Yankees are no where close to being done yet, with that said, Joe Torre looks like he's aged 8 years before the All-star break.

The Tigers are a better team this year than last. They loom as the scariest team to face in the playoffs.

When does Ozzie Guillen get blamed for the disaster the White Sox have become.? Lots of squandered talent normally translates into the need for a new voice in the dugout. But Guillen may skate because he's got himself a World Series ring.

The Seattle Mariners are the best team no one pays attention to. Imagine how yough they'd be if Richie Sexson and Adrian Beltre played up to their contracts.

As a New York Met fan, I'm much more worried about having to face the Phillies in the playoffs than I am having them take over the division.

As bad as the NL Central looks, the Cardinals are still shot. The emotional hangover of the unlikely World Series victory combined with the death of Josh Hancock have given them the look of a team thats praying for the season to end and we're not even at the All-Star break.

No one is beating Milwaukee in the NL Central. They do the best job of beating up on their division weaklings, and that will be what enables them to hold off the Cubs.

The Dodgers have underachieved in the West. They clearly have the most talent, but the volume of older players could crush them in the end. They've already lost Jason Schmidt and they're counting on grey beards Jeff Kent, Luis Gonzalez, and Nomar Garciaparra to stay healthy. That and Juan Pierre looks like the worst free agent signing of the decade.

The team that has the best chance to win the NL West is the Arizona Diamondbacks. They have a young lineup thats getting better each day, a veteran pitching staff anchored by reigning Cy Young award winner Brandan Webb and a very good closer in Jose Valverde. Where the veteran squads of the Padres and Dodgers will try to hang on and stay healthy to finish the season, the Diamondbacks will only get stronger.

Giddyap.

Random Thoughts

This stream of consciousness rant I'm about to embark will be an occassional theme for this space.


Whats with all of the criticsm of the Sopranos finale? Isn't a little nervy to trash David Chase, who brought us the permanent piece of American culture, for ending HIS show in a way HE sees fit??


With all due respect to LeBron James and Tim Duncan, the most entertaining part of the NBA finals is the announcers. How much do you think it would cost to rent Jeff Van Gundy and Mark Jackson for my living room? Those two are clearly the only watchable aspect of this final.

The best thing that could have happened to the Yankees is Giambi getting hurt. It opened up the DH which takes Johnny Damon out of the field. Melky Cabrera is a much better defensive outfielder and is a tough out. Damon is a player who counts on his legs and his legs look shot. And did I mention that the Yankees owe him $26 million in the two years after this year. But its okay because thats what Roger Clemens makes in a half season.

Don't try to argue with me about the Sopranos. I'm the only person you know who named their kid Meadow.

Has Billy Donovan explained to anyone why he pulled out of the Orlando job. Or more importantly, why he took it in the first place? The biggest beneficiary of Donovan's little 360?? The Orlando Magic and their fans. They're going to like Stan Van Gundy running their show. This team will be competitive faster with Stan than they ever would have been with Donovan.

If the Jaguars end up signing Daunte Culpepper, he'll get a chance to be the starting quarterback for his 3rd NFL team. Something tells me if he doesn't get it right this time, there will be no 4th job. With that said, Nick Saban did a lousy job rushing him back last year, then leaving him for dead.

If a team won the Stanley Cup and no one watched, did they really actually win it?

If Chase does a Sopranos movie, wouldn't Eric Mangini be perfect as Tony's consigliere?? You've got to admit he'd be better than Belichick, even if Paulie showed up with a truck filled with oversized hooded sweatshirts.

Speaking of Belichick, by a show of hands, who would laugh if Tom Brady went down with a season ending injury in the Patriots first game of the season?? My hand is currently in the air.

Michael Vick, Pacman Jones, Tank Johnson. I bet the NFL is thrilled to have become a year round phenomenon.

So whcih brilliant NBA GM will be the first in this year's draft to pass on a sure thing to use a high pick on unknown Chinese center Yi Jianlian? My money is on Danny Ainge and the Celtics. Call it Pitino envy, if you will.

Does anyone have the phone number of Manny Ramirez' barber??

Is there a professional athlete with a nose as big as Nomar Garciaparra??

Isn't the U.S. Open a more entertaining event when the players are starts as oppossed to the golf course? With that said, its a little fun watching professionals hack it up like duffers on a municipal course.

Did anyone else notice that the girl who chased around John Travolta in Saturday Night Fever turned up in the Sopranos finale as Patsy's wife? It might have passed you by because she had striking resemblance to Ginny Sack.

Giddyap.

LeBron, Sweet Lou, and the Top 10 Sopranos Episodes





If you've been paying attention to these NBA playoffs, and believe me, plenty of people haven't been, you are getting to watch something special. No matter what happens in the upcoming NBA finals, this year's playoff will be known for the monumental performance of 22 year old LeBron James.





In Game 5 of the Eastern Conference finals, LeBron James scored 29 of his team final 30 points leading his team to a two point overtime victory. He got hot in a big spot in a fashion that we've only seen from all-time superstars with championship resumes. He led them to the finals with a supporting cast that resembles Police Academy 5. In these playoffs, he's shown a will to win and an enjoyment for the game that we have never seen from him. But probably the most underrated part of what James has done is who he did it against.



Since the Eastern Conference finals it has been en vogue to trash the Detroit Pistons. From the early stages of the season straight through to the first two games of the Eatern Conference Finals, it was the general consensus that the Pistons would cruise into the NBA finals. Obviously, LeBron James had other plans and executed them in grand fashion. There is a chance that this ends a 5 year run of virtual dominance in the Eastern Conference. When you look at the players that LeBron conquered, there are some pretty impressive track records. Tayshuan Prince is in his prime and he completely shut down Kobe Bryant in the 2004 finals. Richard Hamilton , if used correctly, is an extremely difficult player to contain. Rasheed Wallace is on the back nine of his career, but he still is a very valuable two way threat. And Chauncey Billups is a playoff tested championship point guard who has a knack for hitting big shots. The only significant weakness the Pistons have is that their head coach Flip Saunders seems to coach the playoffs with two hands wrapped around his own neck. Think about how many times Hamilton was run off screens the year they won the title with Larry Brown as coach. About the same amount of time that Saunders started Hamilton with the ball at mid court to beat his defender on his own, but I digress. Against the Cavs, Saunders' deficient coaching wasn't much of a disadvantage because Mike Brown doesn't outcoach anybody. The bottom line being is that any talk denigrating the Pistons is just diminishing a historical individual effort by LeBron James in addition to being a foolish dismissal of an excellent group of players.



Has anybody else noticed that the entire landscape of managerial post game press conferences has really changed for the positive in major league baseball. The sole reason for this is the return to the dugout Of Sweet Lou Piniella as manager of the Chicago Cubs. No manager in the history of baseball does a press conference like Lou. He yells at everyone about virtually anything. He is eminently entertaining, especially when he is at his angriest. But somehow, I don't think that Cubs management is as entertained with Lou as I am.

This past offseason, Cubs management made a major financial commitment to turn around the fortunes of Chicago's lovable losers. They invested $300 million in player contracts signing players such as Alfonso Soriano, Ted Lilly, and Jason Marquis in additon to retaining Aramis Ramirez. Piniella himself got a 3 year deal worth $10 million. The suits at the Tribune Co. , the company that owns the Cubs, cannot be too happy with a 27-32 record as a current return on their investment. And to add insult to injury, the Cubs appear to play better baseball without Lou Piniella.

Piniella is just completing a 4 game suspension for kicking dirt all over an umpire, then admitted in his post game press conference that the umpire made the right call and he " was getting kicked out fo the game no matter what." This Piniella tirade was preceded the day before by an ugly dugout brawl. Cubs ace ( and we use the term loosely these days) Carlos Zambrano and Cubs catcher Michael Barrett reenacted the Frazier-Ali thriller in Manilla in the dugout and clubhouse at Wrigley Field. These incidents highlighted the fact that the talented Cubs play tighter than Paris Hilton's hand cuffs ( hey now!). The point is especially underscored by the fact that the Cubs won 4 in a row without Piniella.

Now don't get me wrong. Lou is one of the best managers in the game. But he doesn't exactly have a stellar history of handling media and fan pressure, which is an unfortunate circumstance of being the Chicago Cubs manager. Cubs GM Jim Hendry and the Tribune Co have furnished Lou with a talented ballclub, despite the fact that their bullpen stinks. If Lou doesn't take his foot off the gas for a little while, the Cubs whole season could go up in smoke. History has taught us that Lou will handle it correctly. The Cubs are lucky enough to play in the worst division in baseball, so it would be an upset if they didn't hang around.

This Sunday is the last episode ever of HBO's hit mob drama, The Sopranos. The show was certainly one of the most unique viewing experiences to ever hit the small screen. I fancy myself as somewhat of a Sopranos afficionado which is a kind way to rationalize all the time I've spent rewatching episodes like a mental patient. So in the spirit of self indulgency, I've created a top ten list of the best Soprano episodes ever with an honorable mention list of 5. I figured it was easier and more fun than trying to read series creator David Chase's mind. So without further ado, here is my list.

Honorable Mention

Pine Barrens(Season 3 Episode 11)- Paulie and Christopher chasing the Russian in the woods. A very fun episode highlighting the tension between Paulie and Christopher but gave very little plot development and did not tell us anything we didn't know about these two characters.

Funhouse (Season 2 episode 13)- In this one, Tony, Slivio, and Paulie whack Pussy. Tony gets arrested for stolen airline tickets right after the murder. Very dramatic episode, but I always felt it was a stretch that Tony figured out that Pussy was a rat during a hallucinating dream.

Members Only (Season 6 Episode 1) - Gene Pontocorvo commits suicide after Tony and the Feds won't release him from the life and Junior shoots Tony in the gut during a delusion. A very dramatic episode that was powerful at the time, partly because it was the 1st episode off a 20 month hiatus. And watching Tony attempt to call 911 with a belly full of lead was one of the more riveting moments the show ever has had.

Stage 5 (Season 7 Episode 2) - Johnny Sack gets a terminal prognosis and quickly dies. Cleaver premieres as Carmela points out to Tony that the movie is Christopher's revenge fantasy. And Phil Leotardo lays down the law that he is taking no prisoners with one line, "No more of this Butchie. " This episode sets the stage for the events leading up to the finale. And the acting job done by Vince Curatola, who plays Johnny Sack, is the best performance you'll see from someone not named Gandolfini or Falco.

The Weight ( Season 4 Episode 4)- This is the Ginny Sack 90 pound mole episode. A unique combination of suspense and comedy. The tension of two hits being planned simultaneously keeps you guessing until the end. And watching the joke being explained to senior citizens Uncle Junior and Carmine is absolutely priceless.

And now the Top 10

10) I Dream of Jeannie Cusamano ( Season 1 Episode 13) In the season 1 finale, Tony learns that Uncle June and his mom plotted to have him killed. Tony pops Junior's whole crew, but Junior gets arrested before Tony gets to him. Tony forces Melfi into hiding for her own protection. And Tony is forced to admit to his crew that he sees a shrink. This episode stands up historically because when Chase wrote it, he didn't know he was going to get a second season.

9) Kaisha (Season 6 Episode 12) This episode was the beginning of the end for Christopher and Tony. Many say it was the killing of Adriana, but I disagree. This episode was the first time Tony realized that Christopher would readily lie to him. In this episode, Chrisopher has an affair with Tony's wannabe goomar, Julianna, brilliantly played by Julianna Margulies. Her and Chris met in Narcotics Anonymous and it doesn't take them long to start using together. So Chrissie has to let the cat out of the bag to keep Tony off the trail of him using, especially after Tony catches them talking. Also in this episode, Phil has a heart attack and him and Tony share their infamous "moment of friendship". Carmela also gets her spec house back becomes she is ready to hire a private detective to find out what happened to Adrianna. Another interesting footnote of this episode is Julianna being the first one to point out that the boss in Cleaver is intended to portray Tony. This episode makes this list because it accurately parralels the beginning stages of Tony's downward spiral with the deterioration of his relationship with Chris by highlighting a recurring series theme, Tony's hypocrisy.

8) Whoever Did This (Season 4 Episode 9)- Ralphie's son ends up in a coma in a bow and arrow accident. And Tony consoles him by accusing him of killing their racehorse and then beats him to death when he won't admit it. The most relevant development of this episode is Tony catching Chris high on heroin while they're taking care of the body, but Tony can't say boo because he needs Chris to cover for him for killing Ralph. This episode has a great ending as Tony touches the picture of the stripper Ralphie killed in the dressing room at the Bada Bing. (see below)


7) University ( Season 3 Episode 6) - This is the episode where Ralphie beats to death his stripper girlfriend for mouthing off and gets a taboo ass kicking from Tony for his trouble.
The writing in this episode is tremendous. The episode focuses on Ralph's stripper goomar who happens to be the same age as Meadow as we see Meadow's life at Columbia University. I remember this episode as being the first that made me feel as if I was Tony as I watched his daughter's boyfrined have sex with her. A lot of people were appalled by the graphic nature of the stripper's death, but scenes like that are symptomatic of the message David Chase is delivering to us.

6) Irregular Around the Margins (Season 5 Episode 5) - This is the episode where Tony and Adriana are involved in a late night car accident and the rumor mill starts pumping that her and Tony were engaged in a sex act at the time of the crash. The tension in the scene while Tony pointed a gun at Christopher's was enormous. It also established a premise that Tony B was the only one who had the power to reason with Tony and Christopher. The acting and directing are tremedous in the sex tension scene with Tony and Adriana playing darts. They are not really a believable pairing yet it didn't seem far fetched as the secenes were acted out.

5) College ( Season 1 Episode 5) - The most critically acclaimed of all Sopranos episodes. Tony encounters an old associate who is currently in witness protection while visiting colleges in New England with Meadow. So Tony drops Meadow off for an interview at Bowdoin University, then finds and strangles his old associate. This is also the first episode where Tony explains his "business" to Meadow. An underrated portion of this episode is the establishment of Carmela as a hypocritical sinner as she attempts to seduce her priest after he gets stranded at her house during a rain storm.

4) Whitecaps ( Season 4 Episode 13)- This is the episode where Carmela and Tony separate. The arguing scenes between Carmela and Tony are some of the most well acted scenes any of us will ever see in our lifetime. Can never forget how Tony shoves his fist through the wall as Carmela taunts him about Furio. This episode also starts the decline of the Tony/Johnny Sack relationship when Tony calls off the hit on Carmine. This episode ranks as high as it does on nthis list because of the pleasure I got watching James Gandolfini and Edie Falco practicing their craft to perfection.

3) The Second Coming ( Season 7 Epsiode 7)- This is the AJ suicide attempt, which stands as the singuilarly most dramatic scene the show has ever produced. We also see Tony's ego get the best of him one too many times as he beats a made NY guy within an inch of his life for approaching Meadow. Tony can't make this one right with a peace offerring towards Phil and it eventually leads to dire conseuences for Bacala and Silvio in the next episode. This is also the episode where Melfi is made aware of the painful fact that Tony has been playing her all along. An amazing stroke of writing surfaces in this episode as AJ reveals that his dismal view on life came from comments Tony's mother made to AJ in a scene at her nursing home in Season 1.

2) Long Term Parking ( Season 5 Epsiode 12 )- This is the Adriana episode. The feds squeeze her to a point where the only choice she has is to recruit Christopher into witness protection. It almost seems to work until Christopher spots a poor schook with shoppoing bags tied to the top of his old Toyota while he's is filling his Hummer with gas. The drama in the Adriana death scene as Silvio pulls her from the car is nerve racking, mostly because Adriana was written brilliantly as a lovable idiot. Also in this episode, Tony and Carmela reconcile and Tony tells Johnny Sack to take a long walk off a short pier when John refuses to kill Tony B. quickly. As we end up seeing later, another example of Tony's ego interfering with business decisions.

1) The Knight in White Satin Armor ( Season 2 Episode 12 ) I picked this as the best episode because this episode shows us Tony exactly as we want to see him, a hero. He raises Carmela's ire by leaving in the middle of the night to go help his Russian goomar who tried to kill herself. He then rescues Janice after she put two slugs in Richie's chest as retribution for a punch in the face. He enlists Chris and Furio to dispose of Richie's body and he sends Janice back to Seattle.
This episode also shows us Uncle Junior at his best as he plays Tony and Richie off each other to see who could get support to lead the family. He chooses Tony and tips him off of Richie's plan to dispose of the "current leadership." Also, in this episode, we see Tony in his mother's presence for the first time in Season 2. It is the only time in the series we see Big Bad Tony Soprano intimidated by anybody as he falls down the steps running from his mother. And lastly, this episode contains three fo the best quotes in series history.
1) As Tony and Silvio ponder Richie's immediate demise Silvio utters, ' I don't think there's much to be gained by keeping him around. "
2) As Tony lectures Richie about not selling drugs on the garbage routes, Tony quite accurately tells him, "Those that want respect, give respect."
3) As Tony is putting Janice on a bus back to Seattle the morning after she offs Richie, " So all in all I'd say it was a pretty good visit. "

Just one man's opinion.

Giddyap

Lottery Leftovers and thoughts on Kobe Bryant and Baseball's commish





The Boston Celtics finished last season with the 2nd worst record in the NBA. They rightfully earned that status from management to coaching and straight down to the players. General Manager Danny Ainge traded a lottery pick that could have drafted impressive rookies Randy Foye or Rudy Gay. For his trouble, he acquired Sebastian Telfair. The best thing you could say about Telfair's only season as a Celtic was that he was an expert marksman. The worst thing you can say is that he was an alleged felon two times over.


Celtic head coach Doc Rivers disinguished himself by executing one the ugliest tanking jobs the league has ever seen, ranking right up there with Bill Fitch's 83-84 Rockets who mailed it in for the right to select the great Hakeem Olajuwon. And the players at time acted like they did not want to be in the gym, let alone on the floor playing the game. So, when the 38% chance they had "earned" to get one of the first two picks in this year's draft (i.e Oden or Durant) blew up in smoke at last year's draft lottery, logic would dictate that the organization got exactly what they deserved. Yet since last week, Celtic fans are acting like they got screwed out of their birthright.


One would think that 7 NBA championships spanning a 19 year period from 1967 to 1986 would be something that would satisfy a fan base for a lifetime. Yet, when you read the nation's foremost Celtic apologist, ESPN.com columnist Bill Simmons, he is referring to this year's lottery as "the tragic events of 5/22. " The prevailing thought is that the Celtics got shafted 10 years ago when the Spurs won the right to select Tim Duncan. And that line of thinking is simply misguided idiotic naive nonsense.


The Celtics fortunes were scarred for generations with the hiring of suppossed franchise savior at the time, Rick Pitino. A lot of Celtic fans would disagree wuth this, pointing to the tragic deaths of Len Bias and Reggie Lewis. But the reality is that the franchise was well positioned to return to prominence until Slick Rick came in and took over. His first order of business was to insist on the title of President of the team. But there was one problem. That title was already
taken by basketball icon Red Auerbach. Whether Auerbach was active in the personnel department was immaterial. He had earned that title for life with his championship resume. But Pitino's ego was so out of control before he ever won a game as Celtics' coach, he insisted on the title of President, his autonomous power and enormous contract not withstanding. This started the Celtics' luck of the irish on a downhill path.


Pitino's first year as Celtic Basketball Czar was 1997. In the 97 draft, the Celtics had the #3 and #6 picks. Despite the fact that the Tim Duncan ping pong ball eluded them, this still represented an enormous opportunity to upgrade the roster. With the #3 pick, Pitino selected Chauncey Billups, a point guard from the University Colorado. This turned out to be a great draft pick as Billups is the floor leader for a team that is currently making its 5th straight appearance in the Eastern Conference finals with one NBA title to their credit. For the Celtics, there is one major problem. Slick Rick traded Billups half way through his rookie year. He used the #6 pick on Ron Mercer. Mercer was a career journeyman who never actually stuck anywhere. His career highlights came while he was at the University of Kentucky came when his coach was none other than Rick Pitino. And the #9 pick in that same draft was Tracy McGrady. At that time, the rumors leading up to the draft had Pitino selecting McGrady. After the draft Pitino admitted that McGrady was a strong consideration, but he was looking for players who could make more of an immediate impact. Patience did not prove to be Slick Rick's strong suit.

In 1978, Red Auerbach used the #6 pick in the draft on a junior named Larry Bird, even though Bird was not going to play for the Celtics until the following season. Auerbach knew that when your goal is to build a champion, patience is an essential element. The Celtics fortunes haven't turned unlucky. Their fortunes changed when they sold out the greatest basketball executive in history for a good college coach who conned ownership out of millions.

And the current regime appears just as bad. So the good news for the Celtic fans on missing out on Oden and Durant is that they are virtually guaranteed to have plenty of ping pong balls in next year's lottery.

Kobe Bryant had a pretty busy week. In the last 7 days, Bryant has demanded the Lakers to "surround him with a better team.", demanded that Mitch Kupchak relinquish his job as general manager to Jerry West, (Kupchak and West are close friends), publicly blamed Laker owner Jerry Buss for the Shaquille O'Neal trade, demanded to be traded himself, and recanted said trade demand. He actually had a good idea sprinkled in there. Its time for the Lakers to cut bait and get out from under the nightmare that Bryant has morphed into.

Before I even address the on court problems Bryant has created, I feel the need to address what a disgusting ingrate Kobe is as a human being. This organization that he has publicly embarrassed on every management level is the same organization that stood by him while he went on trial for rape. They flew him back and forth from the trial in Colorado for practices and games. They did not require him to participate in all team meetings, practices, and activities, even when he wasn't in court. At no time did they hold him accountable for the irresponsible actions that put him in that tenuous legal position in the first place. When his contract expired they offerred him the maximum amount of money league regulations would allow. When he wanted Phil Jackson back as coach, they went and got him. And Kobe respects their loyalty by going on a public verbal assault. If you owned an NBA team, would you want this kind of guy as the face of your organization? I know I wouldn't.

The next issue he created here is how do you now go back into a locker room with your teammates. What he pretty much said here in not so many words is that the rest of these guys stink. And although the shoe fits in more than a few instances, there are also more than a few players that have a right to be mighty ticked off. In my humble opinion, Lamar Odom is one of the top 20 players in the NBA. He does everything well on the floor and he's 6'10". Odom's best attribute is his ability to pass. He is especially effective offensively when he plays with players that share the basketball. The reality is that the Lakers have their 2nd star. Kobe Bryant is too much of a selfish pig to play with him.

So now Kobe has placed himself and the Lakers in the unique position of Kobe actually having more value to the Lakers off their team as oppossed to on their team. It doesn't matter how much talent an individual player has. If that talent cannot be applied within the framework of a team concept, there is a ceiling on how much that talent translates to winning games. Combine Kobe's genral difficulty of working within a team concept and the significant fact that he just alienated every teammate he currently has, and you get an impossible environment for the Lakers to succeed.

Keeping in mind that the Lakers best stretch of the 2005-2006 season was the 20 game period Kobe was on the injured list, there are a few tremendous options for the Lakers to build around Odom. Kobe to the Houston Rockets for a Tracy McGrady package is one viable option. McGrady has become a much more mature player and in turn a much less selfish one. His skills translate very well into Phil Jackson's triangle offense. if the Lakers could grab a pick and/or more cap space as well in a deal like this, all the better. Kobe to the Chicago Bulls is another option. If the Lakers could get Luol Deng and Ben Gordon, it would completely reinvigorate their youth movement and make them great again much faster. Because if the Lakers keep going this way, greatness is not imminent anytime soon. Its starting to appear that any sentence that includes Kobe Bryant and the word greatness should include the name Shaquille O'Neal as well.

As baseball season swings toward summer, Barry Bonds inches closer and closer to baseball's most hallowed record, most career home runs. A record held by the great Hank Aaron. Under different circumstances, baseball would be celebrating this record with unprecedented fanfare. Instead, when broached on the issue, baseball's commissioner treats the issue like Tony Soprano treats a RICO investigation.

Selig has gone to lengths in the last few years to try to bring accountablility for the steroids epidemic. He's hired George Mitchell to head up a federal investigation and rumors are abound that Mitchell has gathered enough information to start naming names. So now that major league baseball is holding the offenders accountable, what about the people who condoned rampant steroid use. People like Bud Selig.

Selig has not yet announced that he will be in attendance the day that Barry Bonds is about to break the record. Yet, when McGwire and Sosa were breaking records in 98, Bud was everywhere. The point that appears to escape Commissioner Selig is that the steroids era happened on his watch. That makes him accountable. And since the players who are proven to be steroid users will presumably be subject to some sort of league discipline, shouldn't Selig be disciplined as well. He sold out the integrity of the record book in exchange for revenue growth. Maybe a worthwhile tradeoff in the end, maybe not. But if he starts doling out punishment, start in the mirror. And what better way for Bud to punish himself than to have to publicly congratulate Barry Bonds and his oversized head in person on the day he breaks the record. Thats what Selig gets for looking the other way.

One last note: I will refrain from commenting on LeBron James' tour de force Game 5 in the Eastern Conference finals until we see who actually wins the series.

Giddyap.

Thoughts about the NBA Lottery, LeBron James, and the New York Yankees





So earlier this week, the most relevant NBA lottery in this decade took place, solely because of the presence of potential superstars Greg Oden and Kevin Durant. And it certainly seems as though these two players will play big roles in attempting to turn around two once proud franchises in Portland and Seattle. But there are two other things that jumped out at me in the time before, during, and after the lottery.

The Chicago Bulls and the Phoenix Suns are two playoff teams who are both close to being title contenders next season. Yet, when we looked up last Tuesday night at 8:3o, there they both were in the mix for lottery picks. The Bulls even had a small chance at Oden or Durant. How does this happen you ask? In the words of Forrest Gump, " Stupid is as stupid does."

The Suns procured their potential lottery pick through the trade of Joe Johnson to the Atlanta Hawks. Joe Johnson is a very good NBA player who is extremely hard to defend at three positions. It certainly would not be a stretch to consider him an All-Star. And since the Hawks had cap space ansd the Suns were up against the luxury tax, a deal made sense. So the Hawks, who were bidding against no one, give up Boris Diaw and 1st round draft pick. Not only did Diaw fit on the Suns much better than Johnson, now the Suns would have an opportunity to add a young impact player. The only good news is that Hawks GM Billy Knight made the pick top 3 protected, which took the Suns out of the mix for Oden or Durant. And since the Hawks got the 3rd pick in the lottery, the Suns have to wait unitl next year's draft to reload. This deal was so bad that one of part owners of the Hawks took the other part owners to court to have it overturned. But the again, this is the same general manager who passed on two of the best 5 point guards in the NBA in Deron Williams and Chris Paul, to select Marvin Williams when he drafted two guys the year before who play the same small forward position in Josh Childress and Josh Smith. And then to bring us full circle, Joe Johnson's strongest position??? Small forward. Billy Knight has established himself as the NBA's version of Matt Millen. A lucky version at that, with 2 lottery picks whne he only deserved 1.

The Bulls unprotected lottery pick came about through a slightly different route. Their young center Eddy Curry was diagnosed with a heart issue. The Bulls felt he wasn't fit to play professional basketball. Curry and his agent felt differently. So the stage was set for Curry to be dealt. Enter the Basketball Czar of the New York Knicks, Isiah Thomas. Thomas was able to acquire Curry and Antonio Davis for Michael Sweetney, Tim Thomas and two #1 draft picks after the Knicks had already invested 30 million over 5 years in Jerome James after he had one good playoff series in a creere spanning 4 seasons. At the time, Isiah vitually broke his arm patting himself on the back lauding the trade as a steal. He felt like it was the type of deal that would turn around the franchise. The main reason is that Isiah never figured the two first rounders would be lottery picks. His oversized ego got the best of him on this one and the New York Knicks organization paid a dear price.

Now don't get me wrong. Curry is a nice big player. He has a very good post game and is a decent rebounder when he wants to be. But he has lead feet and generally doesn't miss a meal. And defensively, referring to him as a liability is probably being a bit kind. What compounds this is that the year before Thomas makes the trade, he drafts Channing Frye, a polished offensive player with slow feet who needs to double up on a couple of meals, And defensively, Rerun from Whats Happening would be a tough matchup. Does any of this sound familiar? The closest thing to chemistry that Curry and Frye have with one another in the frontcourt is their physical resemblance to the number 10. Common sense in building a basketball team generally dictates the if the power forward or center needs the ball to be effective, the other one shouldn't. So the Knicks lose a chance at Tyrus Thomas last year and the chance at Joakim Noah or Jeff Green this year for an overweight one dimensional center with a heart condition. Maybe Knick fans will get lucky and Dolan will hijack Billy Knight from the Hawks.

LeBron James has received a lot of heat this week for his failure to generate game winning shots for his team with the game on the line twice this week in the Eastern Conference finals versus the Detroit Pistons. In Game 1, LeBron committed the cardinal sin of actually passing to an open teammate as oppossed to taking a shot closer to the rim with a defender breathing down on him. And then in Game 2, LeBron got into the paint, and missed a leaner as he unsuccessfully tried to draw a foul on Rip Hamilton.

Every national radio or TV sports show that covers the NBA has had a talking head of some sort has had some so called expert criticize LeBron for not making the right decisions. Jeff Van Gundy has it right when he says that critics look at the result and work back from there. If Donyell Marshall hits the jump shot in Game 1, LeBron is an unselfish winner. But because Marshall misses the wide open 3, LeBron is a guy who can't win in the playoffs. Here's the thing. He's only a 22 year old kid. Watch in the huddle late in games. He's chomping his fingernails like a 16 year old taking the SATs. And on top of that, he's surrounded with over the hill veterans like Eric Snow, Zydrunas Ilgauskas, and Damon Jones. Larry Hughes plays like he's jealous of LeBron. Its almost like the two of them are playing parralel basketball. Drew Gooden is useless in a big spot. In these first two games, Rasheed Wallace absolutley dominated Gooden in crunch time. The only guys on this team he's capable of leading are Daniel Gibson, Anderson Varejao, and Sasha Pavlovic. And I have to believe the primary reason for the latter two is probably the language barrier. With all this said, maybe someone should give the kid a little credit for carrying this motley team into the Eastern Conference finals.

Anyone who has been exposed to New York talk radio the last couple of weeks has had overexposure to the ridiculous media created issue, " Are the Yankees finished this year?"

Now I completely understand that it is quite uncommon to see the Yankees 3 games below .500 towards the end of May. And 9 1/2 games out of first place is a whole lot. But someone please find me a team that is more capable of winning 20 games a month for the next 3 months. Last time I checked, they still had a pitching staff with Cy Young runner up Chien-Mien Wang, Andy Pettite and his 2.66 ERA, with the imminent return of Roger Clemens.

Don't get me wrong, there still are problems. But some will be solved. The odds are in favor of Mussina turning it around. Abreu is not going to hit like this all season. Rivera may not go back to being dominant, but he will find his way towards effective. Cano will hit. He's got too much talent. The only real long term problems are Damon and the bullpen. Damon's best asset is his legs, and they're starting to break down on him. And the Yankees are commintted to two more years at 13 million per year AFTER this year. The bullpen mess will be solved the way the Yankees solve all of their problems. Steinbrenner will throw some money at it.

Now if Giambi will just shut his big fat piehole...........

Giddyap!

I'm back after a long, but effective hiatus. On to business.



Before I get to the on court business of the NBA in May of 2007, let me discuss some off court activity that has transpired, namely, The Traveling Van Gundy Brothers.

The lead NBA headline today was the firing of one of the better coaches in the world in Jeff Van Gundy. On one hand it appears totally logical. He never won a playoff series in 3 playoff appearences within 4 years. He had 3 years with two of the league's Top 15 players in Tracy McGrady and Yao Ming and achieved zero success. However those that spent a little time watching the Houston Rockets know the understand the deck that Jeff had stacked against him.

His first year, he was saddled with the Artist Formerly Known as Steve Francis, who believed he was a superstar. The two problems were that he never was a superstar and by the time Jeff got there Stevie's game was in steep decline. The following 2 years he had Yao, McGrady and a glorified CBA roster. Only this past season did they add Shane Battier and give him a player who plays Jeff's way. They won 52 games and got beat in Game 7 in a 4-5 series in a deep, difficult Western conference. His franchise player, McGrady, publicly campaigns for his return. It looks like they're ready to turn the corner, right? Not for owner Les Alexander.

Essentially, Jeff had to fall on his own sword. They told him he could keep his job if he switched his coaching style to "up-tempo." I guess no one reminded ole Les that you need a Steve Nash or Jason Kidd type of point guard to play that style successfully. One thing Jeff knows is that it ain't happening with Rafer Alston as his point guard. So he tells management, I coach my way. If you want up-tempo, hire another coach. So Van Gundy gets canned pride in tact.

Even though it appears that Jeff is prepared to spend a significant amount of time in the broadcast booth, I believe that there is a currently occupied head coaching job that would fit him perfectly. That job is the New Jersey Nets. Lawrence Frank is an OK coach. H certainly has a decent feel for defense. But his halfcourt offense is abysmal. With no big post presence, Frank has a unique opportunityto post up his three big perimeter players, Kidd Carter, and Jefferson. Every night, at least one of them has a size mismatch. Yet the majority of their field goal attempts are perimeter jump shots.

The last team that I saw overachieve from posting up big guards was the 1999 New York Knicks who went to an NBA final with a halfcourt offense primarily composed of posting up big guards Allan Houston and Latrell Sprewell . The coach of those 1999 Knicks??? Jeff Van Gundy. Playoff basketball hasn't changed. It still is and will always be a half court game.

It has been reported that Jeff's older brother Stan has interviewed for the openings in Charlotte, Indiana, and Sacramento. You remember Stan, don't you? He's the coach that took over the Miami Heat when Pat Riley decided there wasn't enough talent to win. So Stan developed his young talent, (Lamar Odom, Caron Butler, and Charles Barkley's love child, Dwyane Wade), got them into the 2nd round of the playoffs in his 2nd year, and set them up to make the Shaq trade. And right about the time the Heat are ready to compete for a championship, he steps down to "spend more time with his family." And who takes over, but Pat Riley. They can spin that one any way they want but Riles is coaching that team with blood stains on his hands.

So now Stan is in the mix for another well deserved chance. If you're reading Stan, don't touch that Indiana job. They are a mess. Anchored by an unhappy superstar in Jermaine O'Neal, and no supporting cast, the Pacers are going no where fast. By the way, special credit for this mess goes to Larry Bird, proving by the shadow of a doubt that he was a much better player, and even a better coach than he is a basketball executive. That organization is yet to recover from his brutal mishandling of the enigma known as Ron Artest, who is the NBA';s version of Tony Soprano.

Back to Stan. Stan, if they offer you the Charlotte job, take it. You've got a good young point guard in Ray Felton. A legit defensive big man in Emeka Okafor if you can keep him on the court. They will have a high lottery pick in this year's very deep draft. And they've got cap space galore. It represents a chance to mold something in his own image without the Riley shadow. Which is really all a Traveling Van Gundy brother could ever want.

This year's NBA playoffs have been drmatically unremarkable. But there are still a few things going on that warrant mentioning.

Firstly, I can't figure out for the life of me how a role player like Bruce Bowen can get away with being the dirtiest player in this league in the last 15 years. The knee he implanted in Steve Nash's genitals was one of the nastiest, unnecessary acts I've ever seen on a basketball court. Which begs the question, does Bowen have pictures of David Stern or Stu Jackson at a bachelor party? They suspended Kobe Bryant twice this year for landing hiis arm on a defender's head while taking a jump shot, but Bowen can mutilate Nash family jewels with impunity??

Now don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining about the Stoudemire and Diaw suspensions. Those rules about leaving the bench are necessary an important, especially in the playoffs. Remember, Steven Jackson played in 2 rounds this year. Any league that employs Steven Jackson always runs the risk of him starting a riot in any game he plays in. But I digress. Bowen gets away with murder. And in a league that employs rules that suspend guys for doing a lot less, it has to be time that Bowen has outlasted any benefit of the doubt he's afforded.

With that said, there is a great story going on that not enough people are paying attention to, the Utah Jazz. Their general manager, Kevin O'Connor has put together a brilliant mix of young players and sprinkled in veterans nicely. 3 years ago, he invested his enormous cap space in Carlos Boozer and Mehmet Okur to man the center and power forward positions. While at the time, these two appeared grossly overpaid, their pairing has been a stroke of pure genius. they completely compliment each other on both ends of the floor. Offensively, Boozer plays in the post and Okur hangs on the perimeter firing (and making) threes. Defensively, Okur takes the tough inside matchup and Boozer helps out and cleans up the glass. The Jazz also sprt the best point guard no one ever pays attention to in Deron Williams. This guy looks like a young version of Jason Kidd, yet he rarely turns it over, and he can shoot. I would also be remiss if I did mot mention their outstanding coach, Jerry Sloan. The Jazz play hard, smart disciplined, and unselfishly. Everyone seems to know their role. They are as well coached a basketball team as you will see in the league. The Spurs will get all they can handle.

More to come soon. Thanks for reading.

Sorry for the lengthy sabbatical. In the words of a great man called Austin Powers, for a little while there, I lost my MoJo. Well baby, its back.

This evening, I will furnish you with a few NFL thoughts.

I've always been extremely hesitant to criticize Peyton Manning for being the choke artist that many people believe he is, mostly because I think that he generally has had a very tough playoff landscape on an annual basis. Basically, when he had teams in front of him he could beat (Titans and Jets), he was too green to get it done. And once he matured, he was saddled with Belichick's Patriots. But after watching his act this past Sunday, I have serious doubts over whether he and his coach Tony Dungy have championship potential.
There was a scene at the end of the 3rd quarter of Sunday's playoff loss to the Steelers that you would NEVER see on a team with a championship quarterback and a championship coach. The Colts had a 4th and 2 at midfield losing 21-3. Dungy began to send his punting unit on the field and Manning started waving the punt team off like he was calling a fake audible. And incredibly, Dungy listens and pulls his punt team off the field. This is disturbing on so many levels. Firstly, although Manning has full audible authority, it is not within the realm of his responsibility to overrule the coach on the field during a game. If you think about any of the great Super Bowl winning quarterbacks of our time, did any of them overrule their coaches. Did Aikman do it to Jimmy Johnson? Heck, Aikman didn't even overrule that illiterate Barry Switzer? Does Brady do it to Belichick? Did Elway do it to Shanahan? Did Montana or Young do it to Walsh? Simms tried to do it to Parcells, but was told to shut his trap and play. A very simple philosophy from Coach Parcells, you play, I coach.
Which brings us to Coach Dungy. It seems like bad kharma to be critical of a man who just recently experienced such a horrific personal tragedy, so I hope you all understand that what I'm about to say relates solely to his ability as a football coach. As an NFL coach, your job success is directly related to your ability to get grown men to essentially run through brick walls for at your command. When you do things like tell the media you're not going to allow your players the opportunity to make history as a team, or allow your quarterback to overrule you on a decision that clearly falls under your domain, you allow the guys who you are trying to lead, to question your leadership. Dungy is a highly respected coach in league circles and his players profess to love him. but its starting to appear that he is not commanding respect at the most crucial times. Keep in mind, that the Colts are not the first Dungy led organization that has had difficulty advancing in the playoffs with superior talent. The Bucs of the early 2000s were always getting knocked out in games they shouldn't have been losing. It took Jon Gruden's arrival to get them a Super Bowl. Food for thought.
Great hire by the Jets today. I believe that Eric Mangini is the right coach at the right time. He will learn from Jet GM Terry Bradway, but more importantly, Bradway will learn from Mangini. He has been around some of the best to ever pace the sidelines. He understands protocol instilled by championship organizations. He will do things in practice, most other coaches don't because of who he's learned from. And ultimately, I believe that Mangini will have the Jets looking at a different kind of player when it comes to free agency and the draft. Sure, he's young, but the Jets have to gut this whole thing anyway. The mistakes Mangini's youth will cause will not be hampering a playoff team. By the time the Jets get good again, Mangini will be very good.
When it comes to personnel evaluation, I think that I'm the greatest, especially in basketball and football. So, it qualifies as a big thing when I admit I'm wrong on a player. I'm often wrong on a game or a team, but rarely wrong on a player. Coming out of last season, I thought Ben Roethlisberger was a bit of a fraud. Now, I'm the one who feels like a fraud. This guy is one heck of a winning football player. Impossible to sack with a quick release and a powerful arm are all very nice qualilties, but more than any other player in the league at his position, he does the absolute best job at playing within his own ability. He will rarely try to put a ball where it doesn't belong. He seems to always tuck it in for a sack at the right time. He will ALWAYS throw it away in the red zone before he takes a stupid chance. And for that reason, with a gun to my head right now, I would pick the Pittsburgh Steelers to win the Super Bowl.

And by the way, I will not mention the New Jersey Nets for the rest of this season. I denounced them in my last entry, and they proceeded to win 9 in a row.

A few Friday night NBA observations

1) I will start this one by saying that I still believe that Carmelo Anthony was the 2003-04 NBA Rookie of the Year, not the guy who won the award, LeBron James. And Anthony has improved tremedously since then and is a borderline franchise type of player right now. Now that I've gotten that out of the way, as things currently stand now, Anthony isn't a pimple on Lebron James' backside.
James is so athletically dominant, he can pretty much do whatever he wants on the court. He is currently more of a threat off the dribble in the halfcourt than Kobe Bryant. Please go back and read that last sentence again. He came into the league with so much hype, I desperately wanted to despise him. But his talent is boundless. He is not far away from being the best player in the NBA. His problem is that it does not appear that the Cavs have provided him with the right coach to partner up with.
LeBron has the ability to average 35 points a game. If he does that, the Cavs would probably miss the playoffs. The challenge that coach Mike Brown has in front of him is not an easy one, but I do not think he is doing a great job. Most coaches who have superstars tend to coach less and partner up more with superstars. Phil Jackson has created a legacy out of partnering up with superstars, but I digress. With James, Brown has to do both. His superstar/partner is the one that needs the most coaching. For the Cavaliers to fulfill their potential, he needs to teach a 20 year old James concepts that Michael Jordan didn't learn until he turned 30.
Firstly, James need to be one of the guys. He's too young to be an isolated superstar. His veteran teammates will resent him. A public spat with Larry Hughes doesn't help anything. It probably sounds unfair, but thats on the coach. Hughes' bad attitude and James' immaturity notwithstanding, these are your two best players. Hughes is making 13 million a year to head up LeBron's supporting cast. Squeezing Hughes on minutes in crunch time proves nothing and creates bad feelings. A very valuable simple premise of coaching commonly repeated by Jeff Van Gundy, get your best players on the floor when it matters the most.
The second point is that Brown needs to make LeBron understand that if he shoots less and passes more, the Cavs will win more. In the games so far this year that James has had 9 assists or more, the Cavs are 3-0 . In the games so far this year that LeBron has shot the ball 25 times or more, the Cavs are 0-6. He is such a talented passer and so hard to guard off the dribble, there is no reason for him to ever take a perimeter jumper off the dribble. Also, if LeBron's teammates like him more, he'll probably pass to them more. With that said, Brown is in a tough spot. Odds are LeBron will probably not learn this lesson until there is a coach partnering up with him who is wearing some jewelry.

2) So it seems like Ron Artest is getting the TO treatment for the media. But NBA general managers are somewhat smarter. Indiana pacer president Donnie Walsh reported today that he was encouraged that he got 12-15 offers. My question is whats wrong with the other 15 general managers.
The way I see it, there are only two teams in the entire NBA that should not be getting Walsh on the phone, San Antonio and Detroit. And the reason is simple, neither of these teams need to undertake the risk of trading for a psycho. But Artest would be an enormous help to every other team in the league.
As you've probably already surmised, I watch a lot of basketball, There is definitely an intensity crisis in the league. This guy is the most intense player in the league between the lines, and that includes practice. The whole league needs a guy this intense. If you're the Bulls, don't you trade Ben Gordon and Nocioni for him. If you're the Nets, wouldn't you take Artest and Jeff Foster for Vince Carter?? I guarantee guys wouldn't be laughing in the locker room after a 20 point loss.
The best teams in the NBA all have one big time perimeter defender that can make the best players in the elague work very hard for their points. The Spurs have Bruce Bowen. The Pistons have Tayshaun Prince. The Heat went out in the offseason and got themselves James Posey, who they hope can fill that role. One of the main reasons the Pacers are a title contender is because they have Artest.
Now Artest has put the Pacers in an impossible position by publicly demanding a trade. They will have trouble getting full value because he forced their hand, and his well earned reputation doesn't help. But he's the type of player whose value shows up in the most important of statistical categories, the win column.

3) As a follow up to an NBA prediction I made 6 weeks ago: It looks like I might have been dead wrong about the Nets.
Firstly, it seems like Richard Jefferson is a little too concerned with keeping up with Vince Carter offensively, he's forgetting what got him his max contract, defense. It seems like night in and night out, the best perimeter player on the other team keeps lighting him up. And Vince Carter is starting more and more to the lazy, jump shooter the Raptors traded. Combine that with a 33 year old Jason Kidd and a big man rotation that is thin and not physical, and you've got a team thats two games below .500. They may get lucky and get a 3 seed because their division is a disgrace, but I'm issuing my mea culpa now. This is not a team that advances deep in the playoffs.

These are the sports related items that are annoying me on this cold winter Monday night.

1) Tony Dungy- His team is on the verge of making history and he stands there in press conferences like his just saw his dog get hit by a car. And what about this nonsense that he may sit his starters while his team is undefeated. Is he nuts?? This team has a chance to be a team for the ages that runs the table in the era of parity and he's coaching them scared. There's no doubt in my mind that this team has what it takes to go undefeated. My question is whether their coach has the intestinal fortitude to get them there. If I was a player on that team and heard his pensive noncommital drone, I'd wonder a little bit about my leader. The Colts have proved they can kick everyone's butt and their most improtant butt kicking time is coming up soon. Coach Dungy, you've got a special team here. Its not enough to allow them to pursue greatness, you must implore them to.

2) Major League Baseball Owners- The next time there is a serious labor negotiation, no one in that sport should have the nerve to cry poor. The absurdity of major league contracts has never been worse. The owners would tell you that it isn't and point to things like we haven't seen contracts anywhere close to Manny Ramirez' or Alex Rodriguez', but the prices being paid for average major league baseball players are downright obscene. In the last two weeks, we've seen the Dodgers give 13 million dollars a year for 3 years to a leadoff hitting shortstop with a .284 career batting average(Rafael Furcal). The Bluejays gave 9 million dollars a year for 5 years to a 30 year old relief pitcher who has closed for exactly one season in the majors(B.J. Ryan). The Mets gave a 34 year old closer with a violent pitching motion 4 years at 11 million. Now, I like Billy Wagner, but they're paying him more per year than the Yankees pay Mariano Rivera and they're going to be paying him 11 million a year when he's 38. And the worst one I've seen was today. The San Francisco Giants decided that they were short on overpaid players in their thirties. You see, Moises Alou, Edgardo Alfonzo, Omar Vizquel, Ray Durham, and Jason Schmidt aren't enough. They had to have Matt Morris at 3 years and 27 million dollars. This is the 31 year old Matt Morris who has had serious shoulder surgery twice in his career and has not completed a season with an ERA under 4.00 since his last operation.
I hope the owners are proud of themselves. I'm sure MLB commissioner Bud Selig will tell us its progress because the Yankees and the Red Sox weren't buyers of any of these players. My answer will be, thats why the Yankees and the Red Sox are good every year.

3) Stan Van Gundy's resignation- Those who regularly read this space know that I am quite fond of Stan's coaching prowess. And I certainly got my panties in a bunch this summer when Riley casually mentioned to a reporter that he "wanted more control of the day to day operation." All this makes it that much tougher to swallow that Stan left this job on his own. I have a purely speculative theory. Shaq wanted him gone. To me thats the only explanantion. I don't think Stan would have left because coaching Shaq and Dwayne Wade together is a once in a lifetime coaching opportunity that a lifer like Stan most likely would not readily walk away from. If Riley pushed him out because he wanted the job himself, there would be no need for a cover story. Anyone who faxes in his resignation like Riley did in New York is totally comfortable being prtrayed as a classless backstabber. But Shaq is a different story. He's wildly popular nationally. He's a marketing machine and he's now positioned himself as a pillar in the community with his law enforcement work. But most importantly, he prides himself as the anti-Kobe. If he was on record as having run a respected coach off a great job because he didn't like the way he was being coached, his untarnished image could take a hit. And what may be more important to him than that, might be the lost ability to play the moral superiority card over Kobe to the media. Shaq is a master at managing the media and if he had a role in Stan's firing, and the media catches wind, he will lose that upper hand. For Riley, like it would be for anyone else, a happy Shaq makes a productive Shaq. That, and maybe Riles wanted to get back to the sidelines just a little bit..........

Please accept my heartfelt apologies for the lengthy delay between entries.

There has been so much said about the Terrell Owens fiasco that, quite frankly, I've been hesitant to write about it. The reporting has been extremely one sided and its difficult to discuss a different type of angle on it because inevitably, it could make a writer sound like a TO apologist. And Michael Irvin has that market cornered ( along with a couple of others, according to the Dallas police). With that said, I'm going to pursue my angle and give it a shot.
Andy Reid has done an outstanding job of building a program in Philadelphia. He has sustained consistent year over year success, which is an extremely difficult to do in the modern NFL. I have a tremendous amount of respect for him as a football coach and evaluator of personnel. And if he is one day fortunate enough to be inducted into the NFL Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio, there will be no mention of the 2005 season on his bust.
From the very beginning of the season, Reid knew that Donovan McNabb's health was fragile at best. He essentially started the season with a sports hernia and quickly banged up his knee. Without McNabb, it would be virtually impossible for the Eagles to get back to the Super Bowl. Yet in 4 of the Eagles first 6 games, McNabb attempted 45 or more passes. In two of those games, he attempted over 50 passes. Is this how you protect a fragile quarterback? Last time I checked, the Eagles had a guy named Brian Westbrook who is a more than capable running back. In the four preceding years when Reid advanced to the NFC Championship game (and 1 year the Super Bowl), he always exhibited a much more healthy balance of running and passing. And most of those times his franchise quarterback was actually healthy. When you consider that Westbrook didn't have a contract for next year when this year started, would it be a stretch to believe that the one sided offense was designed to further management's negotiating leverage?
While we're on the subject of his franchise quarterback, in retrospect, was it the best idea to unconditionally support McNabb? Many people will tell you yes, but I wholeheartedly disagree. Now don't get me wrong, TO's act is deplorable. However, some of the things that have trickled out of the Eagles locker room during this entire fiasco would have you think that McNabb is a lot more popular with the people he works for than with the people he works with. It is Andy Reid's job to know this. His answer was to banish the better player and severely damage the season. Even though TO was not in their future, that entire locker room knows he's the best player on the field every week. McNabb's unwillingness to work things out and Reid's support of that will permanently effect McNabb's image among his teammates. In my opinion, the McNabb/Reid Eagle regime is permanently damaged.
One of my daily rituals during the NBA season is the combing of box scores while I'm on the can in the morning. (my only doody reference in this entry. ) Through this process, (the box scores, not the doody...oops) I've noticed a disturbing , short sighted trend among NBA coaches. It is amazing how many minutes many coaches are playing their starters. And keep in mind, most of the offenders are coaches who are planning on coaching right through the end of May.
Flip Saunders always have very good regular season records when he coached the Minnesota Timberwolves. Yet, come playoff time, they mostly fell flat on their face. And after watching Flip coach the Pistons through their first 15 games this season, I can see why. Flip is killing his starters. Last night, in their 16th game of the season, the smallest minute log for his starters was 37 minutes. Hey Flip, if your reserves aren't good enough to play in December, how much are they going to help you in may when you've burnt out Billups and the Wallaces.
Saunders isn't the only one doing it. Mike D'antoni's doing the same thing in Phoenix. But he's got an ace in the hole with Amare Stoudemire returning in February from an injury. Phil Jackson is doing it in L.A. He would probably tell you that he has no other option because Kwame Brown stinks, but competent professionals like Luke Walton and Devean George are not playing all that much. If the Lakers get to May, the only shot they have to make any noise in the watered down Western conference is to have Kobe and Lamar Odom as fresh as possible.
Then we have the other side of the ledger in coaches who are seeing the bigger picture. Look at the Van Gundy brothers. Jeff got off to an awful start this year in Houston, already losing Tracy McGrady twice to injury, yet he still kept his eye on the ball and is playing nine guys double digit minutes both nights. Stan has a very deep bench, but has spent most of this young season without Shaq. But he's still giving plenty of minutes to Alonzo Mourning and Jason Kapono, and even though he's playing Dwayne Wade a ton, he's keeping everyone else fresh. Same goes for Mike Fratello in Memphis who has a deep bench and uses it, night in and night out. And then there's Greg Popovich who does have the luxury of the deepest bench in the NBA. But he does a masterful job of using it. He knows that his bread is buttered with Duncan, Ginobili, and Parker. So he plays Mohammed, Barry, and Udrih more this time of year, because he doesn't want to have to use them a lot in May and June. And that more than anything else will be the reason the Spurs will raise the O'Brein trophy once again come the middle of June.

When I went back and read my last entry, I was drawn to that little snippet I had about Michael Irvin essentially wiping TO's backside. Firstly, it was written a little awkwardly and was probably funny only to me. But more than that, I thought about that whole rite of passage for select superstars where they have a particular interviewer who serves up the journalistic equivalent of batting practice.
This rite of passage was established by the greatest we'll ever see play basketball, Michael Jordan. Ahmad Rashad gave Jordan complete control over every interview they ever did. Jordan used Ahmad to craft his own public image and in exchange Ahmad got exclusive access. He served as Jordan's public security blanket. Jordan needed that if he wanted to keep selling sneakers. At the time I sort of begrudged Jordan for it, but in retrospect he probably needed it. His fame, greatness, eagerness to compete, and his love of gambling made him a target. His public image was too much of corporate asset to risk the wrong answer to the wrong question. But this trend now borders on ridiculous, mostly because you'll always find a reporter who will be someone's "Rashad".
Barry Bonds has, does, and always will despise the media. Evidently, when people starting discovering that baseball players were cheating and that Bonds didn't hit 73 homers using protein drinks and flaxseed oil, the media was to blame for writing it. But, yet with no endorsements to speak of (i.e no corporate image to protect), Bonds will grant special access to only Joe Morgan. I like Joe as a baseball analyst, but those interviews with Bonds are forced and uncomfortable. Morgan completely ignores the fact that this guy has a reputation of being one of the nastiest people on earth and is universally disliked in baseball circles. He lets Bonds put on an act, and he keeps getting long interviews. But Joe's not the only one.
Which brings me to the reporter who to me is the worst offender of being a "Rashad". In 1991, in a bar called Saints in Teaneck, New Jersey I ran into the New Jersey Nets coach at the time Chuck Daly. He was sitting at a table with a little known sideline reporter whose face I recognized, but whose name escaped me. My friend and I walked over to Daly and introduced ourselves. He was happy to meet us and actually acted interested in chatting a little basketball.
After about 2-3 minutes of conversation, in which Daly seemed to be enjoying, this twerp across the table scolds us to, "leave us the hell alone right now!" The following week I was watching an NCAA basketball game on CBS, and the sideline reporter was the guy sitting with Daly, Jim Gray.
The same Jim Gray, who during a celebration of the 50 greatest baseball players of all time at an All-Star game, brow beat Pete Rose for the sole reason of trying to promote himself as a "guy who asks the tough questions." Those of you who read this space regularly know I am no fan of Pete Rose. But Gray's ambush that night was misplaced and cowardly. Which is why his evolution into a "Rashad" is probably the most nauseating of all.
Kobe Bryant is a young man who thrust himelf into the spotlight far before he was ready to be there. For as amazing as his basketball talents are, his reputation for dealing with people is amazingly bad. Between his ongoing feud with Shaquille O'Neal, his rape trial, and Phil Jackson's book, his squeaky clean image has been flushed down the toilet. Yet for some strange reason, the same reporter who tried to create a tough guy reputation at a vulnerable flawed man's expense during what may have been his last moment of glory, now acts as Kobe's public lap dog. And when you break it down and think about it, its perfect kharma. Gray's reputation as a credible reporter goes up in smoke for a guy who's made himself publicly irrelevant.
Which brings us back to Michael Irvin, who by comparison is not so bad. You can at least understand that access to and defense of TO could keep Mike working another year. Because when he needs to count on skills as a football analyst, its all over.
While I'm on the topic of ESPN's football coverage, are there any worse people to listen to talk about football than their Sunday night crew, Mike Patrick, Joe Theismann, and Paul Maguire. Patrick hollers all the time and every play he calls gets trivialized by yet another superlative. Theismann only wants to discuss who he talked to yesterday and carries way too much ego for a guy who wasn't that good and isn't that cool. Joe, no one cares that you were once married to the blonde chick from "That's Incredible." And Paul Maguire should be watching these games from his couch drinking a Schlitz beer. He tries to have strong opinions, but they're always on calls that are totally wrong. And Theismann preens like a peacock when he's right and Maguire's wrong. Joe could find a better argument at his local nursing home.
Speaking of Theismann, whats the over/under on games it takes Al Michaels to approach ESPN next year and issue a him or me ultimatum about Theismann. I set the number at 6 1/2 games and I'm taking the under. The last analyst AL had who was as bad as Theismann was Frank Gifford. That last year they worked together, Al had such an attitude with Giff, that you thought that Dierdorf had to pull Al's hands off of Giff's wrinkled neck during the commercial breaks. Al even had a tough time with Boomer who isn't the best, but he's not bad either. But Theismann makes Boomer look like John Madden in his prime. Speaking of Madden, how's that for a trade for Al. Losing Madden and adding the lovechild of Forrest Gump and Fabian. By game 5, AL will have thrown Theismann down a flight of steps, screaming, "do you believe in miracles???"
So I just recently renovated my house. I installed new toilets in all of the bathrooms, and I went to extra expense to make sure that I had the best toilets money could buy. Around three weeks ago, I was taking one of my Saturday morning monster dumps. (Friday's always a big eating night) And even though I have these expensive toilets, I always keep a plunger handy. As you can probably guess, I clogged the toilet and the plunger didn't work. So being the lazy ass that I am, I called the plumber. To his credit he shows up within a half hour and gives me a tutorial on how to not clog up the toilet. And he seems like a really nice guy. Then as he finishes within 10 minutes, I ask him the dreaded question, "what do I owe you?" He hands me an invoice for $205.43. I couldn't help myself. I look at him and ask him incredulously, Do you mean I just took a 200 dollar dump? And this ripoff artist, who's currently billing out at $1200 an hour, deosn't seem to find the humor in it as I hand him a check for $205.43.
The ironic part of the whole thing, I clogged it up again. This time I borrowed my brother's snake and took care of it muself. I figured if the overly friendly plumber with the bad sense of humor can bill out at $1200 an hour, maybe its something I should learn.

Everyone and their mother has an opinion on this embarrassing Terrell Owens fiasco. but very frankkly, I'm sick and tired of hearing and reading about it, so I'll be damned if I'm going to sit here and write about it.
I must confess that Monday Night Football has always been a guilty pleasure of mine. There's something about the music, Al Michaels, the last game of the week feeling, and the Cosell aura that reels me in. A few years back, ESPN took it to a new level with an MNF pregame show called Monday Night Countdown. The show starts at 7:30, and although I tried to tune in and watch it, it never held me becauae 90 minutes is just too goddamned long a pregame show for one regular season game. I no longer beleive that. And I don't watch Monday Night Countdown anymore. I hustle to get the kids to sleep to watch a 2 hour show on the NFL network called NFL Total Access.
When Stu Scott began doing Sportscenters at ESPN, his frequent partner was Rich Eisen. I always found them both entertaining and somewhat funny. Scott was the style. Eisen was the substance. So its somewhat ironic that they both host Monday night pregame shows on competing networks. As time has gone on, Scott's act has gone stale. The last time I heard him shout Boo-Yah, I almost threw an Amstel Light bottle through my television. ( I didn't want to waste the beer.) And the first time I heard him say, "cooler than the other side of the pillow", I thought it was hysterical. The 46, 879th time I heard him say it, I wished I was watching the Gong Show, so Charles Nelson Reilly could get rid of him. Then, when you add in the babbling, ranting fool known as Michael Irvin and master of the obvious Tom Jackson, you get truly unwatchable television, even for an NFL dork such as myself. The only redeeming factors are Ron Jaworski and Chris Mortensen. Jaws is the best x's and o's guy in the business. He's forgotten more about football than the rest of these blohards know. Its too bad he resembles Shrek when he smiles. Mort is always well informed, but I feel like we get very similar insight from Total Access' Adam Shefter.
The two analysts that make Total Access tick are Terrell Davis and Emmitt Smith. Granted, Davis is not the most dynamic studio guy, but he always brings an intelligent player perspective and he serves as a constant reminder of the pride that classy, great players bring to the profession. ( Barry Sanders and Curtis Martin serve as two other examples.) And Emmitt should have his own talk show. He understands the game, the locker room, and the business and the way the three overlap. I've heard him take dead accurate viewpoints this year on how Brett Favre was out of line commenting on Javon Walker's holdout and about what morons Jeremiah Trotter and Kevin Mathis were for throwing punches at each other with helmets on before the first Monday night game this year. He's not afraid to offend anyone, but all of his criticism is purposeful. You may not agree with everything he says, but when Emmitt says it, we know he means it. And that is much more entertaining than his old Cowboy teammate. The Playmaker has his nose so far up TO's ass, that part of Irvin's moustache is hair from TO's rectum.
Total Access also gives you guys like Sterling Sharpe, Butch Davis, and Jim Mora. Sharpe takes a lot of criticsm, but no one on TV gives you more insight into what it takes to play receiver in the NFL. Butch Davis sounds like Champ Kind, the sportscaster in Anchorman, but he's not afraid to let you know when he thinks a guy is dogging it. And if you saw Davis' last two Browns' teams, you know he's an expert on guys dogging it. As a head coach in the league, Jim Mora authored some of the all time great press conferences, like his "Playoffs" rant from 5 years ago. He's not always politically correct and earlier this week, I heard him say to Rich Eisen that he would disown his son if he ever endorsed bringing TO to Atlanta. The best I'm getting on Countdown is Irvin and Jackson screaming "Jacked-Up" at one another while Stu Scott winks at them with his good eye.
There have been a lot of rampant rumors in NFL circles that Dick Vermeil is planning to retire from the Kansas City Chiefs at the end of this season. The hot name attached to this potential opening is current New York Jets head coach Herman Edwards. I guess if Kansas City GM Carl Peterson is looking for a coach who will butcher the clock and blame his assistants for his own failings, he found his guy. But I digress.
Edwards vehemently denied the rumors as we would all expect him to do. But the message he was sending told a different story. Edwards was asked why with 7 minutes left in this past week's blowout loss to the Carolina Panthers, he had his quarterback handing the ball off and running down the clock. Keep in mind, the score at the time was 23-3. Herm's answer was that his players looked shellsocked and their body language showed him like that had enough. So, in other words, his players quit and Edwards let them.
Back when PJ Carlesimo was coaching the Portland Trailblazers, I remember watching him coach a regular season game when he kept his players trapping and fouling right until the buzzer, even though they were down 8 points with 10 seconds left. After the game a reporter asked him why he kept fouling when the game was out of reach. He answered that if he kept them focused to the buzzer in games that were out of reach, it taught them to stay focused to the buzzer on games that were in reach. This past Sunday, Herm stopped teaching the Jets. He let them quit, because at the end of the season he's going to. Stick a fork in him. He's done.
Living in the New York Metropolitan area, I've come to develop an appreciation of the passion of the world famous New York media. Yet, as time goes on, the passion towards negative reporting has become overwhelming. This fall, recently suffering New York Ranger and Knick fans are both enjoying renaissances. The Rangers are in first place in their division with the best player in the sport in Jaromir Jagr. Yet, when you read the local papers, it seems like no one cares. When the Rangers stunk, local reporters had a blast beating up Glen Sather, Eric Lindros, Alexei Kovalev, and every coach the Rangers have had since Mike Keenan. Now that they're good, the tone of the writing wreaks of indifference. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate non-biased journalism more than most. But if you bash aggressively, you need to dole out credit with the same enthusiasm to maintain journalistic credibility.
The Knick renaissance is more like a light at the end of the tunnel. The presence of Larry Brown brings hope for the future. But the current fortunes of the Knicks rest squarely on the ability of Stephon Marbury and Brown to coexist productively. Most Knick followers expect this player coach/relationship to fail miserably. Nonetheless, it qualified as big news when Marbury had trouble in the first 5 games of the year grasping Brown's style of play as the Knicks limped to an 0-5 start. However, in the last two, the Knicks have won in back to back nights on the West Coast, and Marbury has played more the way Larry wants him to. The tone that comes from the beat writers is almost one of disappointment. Now, I really don't think the Brown/Marbury relationship is going to work either. But as a Knick fan, I'm hoping it is. I also think that I'm a little different than most New Yorkers in that I don't mind being wrong. Our local experts all predicted misery for the Rangers and the Knicks. And if there's one thing New Yorkers hate, its being wrong.

Back in the late 70's, New York Yankee reliever Sparky Lyle wrote a book titled, "The Bronx Zoo" about the soap opera atmosphere surrounding the Yankees organization. But after the events of the past week, the Yankees' environment is downright normal compared to that of the Boston Red Sox.
As I'm sure most of you know, Red Sox general manager Theo Epstein resigned on Monday after reportedly agreeing to a contract extension. This came as a surprise to many because Epstein grew up in the Boston area as a lifelong Red Sox fan, attended Harvard in nearby Cambridge, Massachusetts, and was responsible for assembling the team that won the Red Sox' first World Series in 86 years. But there were other forces at work here that I find somewhat amazing.
The center of this whole Epstein storm revolved around a column that was written in this past Sunday's Boston Globe by long time Globe columnist Dan Shaughnessy. If you did not see the article, here's the link. http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/redsox/articles/2005/10/30/lets_iron_out_some_of_this_dirty_laundry//
In a nutshell, the column essentially paints Epstein as Red Sox president and minority owner Larry Lucchino's lackey and discredits much of Epstein's baseball acumen. It is widely known throughout Red Sox nation that Lucchino and Epstein had beeen at odds for quite a while. And that leads us to what makes this article so downright disturbing.
The company that owns the Boston Globe owns a 17% interest in the Boston Red Sox. And after last year's championship season Shaughnessy was given full access to the Red Sox and their front office to write his book about this championship season. And its certainly no secret that one of Shaughnessy's essential functions is to serve as Lucchino's mouthpiece. The outrageous part is that Lucchino would feel the need to discredit a general manager with whom he just agreed to a contract extension. And what kind of columnist lowers himself to patronize this nonsense. This massive conflict of interests has soiled the entire media community in Boston. The Patriots complain that they've won 3 out 4 Super Bowls, but they're covered 1/3 of the amount of the Red Sox. The Boston Herald complains that they're given a paltry amount of media access to the Red Sox. Yet, Shaughnessy, Lucchino and the Globe exhibit no shame. Its one thing to provide preferential access to a particular media outlet or to report in a biased fashion slanted towards a certain franchise. But how can this newspaper expect to maintain a shred of journalistic credibility when they use valuable editorial space to indulge the insecurities of a bitter executive who happens to be a minority partner of a business interest owned by the paper's parent company.
Now I hate to sound like a typical New York sports fan, but this truly would never happen in New York. The best example is the New York Post. The Post is the most sensational of the legendary New York tabloid newspapers. The Post is owned by News Corp. News Corp also happens to be the parent company of the Fox television network. The Post employs a columnist named Phil Mushnick who specializes in critquing broadcasting. Mushnick routinely bashes Fox' television sports coverage. Its quite obvious that no one from News Corp is censoring him. This level of journalistic integrity comes from the New York paper that historically carries the least amount of credibilty. This situation in Boston is an unfathomable injustice to the sports fans of New England.
The above reference to New York makes a nice segue into the second thing I want to discuss today. Earlier this week, the New York Daily News reported that the Yankees had warned Alex Rodriguez to stay out of Poker clubs in Manhattan. Evidently, A-Rod was seen at a Manhattan poker club with Phil Hellmuth, the most famous poker player in the world. A-Rod's agent Scott Boras denied that he was warned, but the damage was already done.
These poker clubs are illegal operations if the proprietors are profiting from the tables, which is by and large the norm. So any kind of media attention is negative attention for these places. After this week's Daily News story, most clubs in the city closed their doors. My best friend was a weekly tournament player at one of these locations which is now shut down. The convenience of his weekly recreation no longer exists.
Please understand that I don't make a habit of condoning illegal activity, and I do recognize that poker can be a dangerous form of gambling, but for a responsible adult who risks a small amount of money relative to that individual's financial situation, its a highly enjoyable form of leisure. So obviously with that said, I am not judging A-Rod for his desire to play poker.
Alex Rodriguez has a reputation in baseball circles for being an unlikeable guy. His detractors call him things like arrogant, pompous, and a guy who "tries too hard." Personally, I've never been a big fan. Its nothing I can pinpoint, but his demeanor just rubs me the wrong way. And I would definitely dislike him just the same if he wasn't on the Yankees. So keep that in mind when I tell you that incidents like these contribute to what I believe is a well earned reputation.
Is A-Rod going to one of these places to play poker or garner attention?? I believe the answer is obvious, because if he just wanted to play poker, why walk in with one of the most famous poker players in the world. He's obviously so selfish that he never considered the consequences of his actions to others. If A-Rod wanted to play poker with Phil Hellmuth, why not do it where its legal. He's got Foxwoods two hours north and Atlantic City two hours south. If he wanted to play with Hellmuth with no attention, one of these casinos would furnish him with a private game in a private room. If he wanted a tournament, they'd make him a tournament. If he wanted security, they 'd give him security up the yingyang. Heck, if he wanted a private helicopter, he'd get that also. This whole situation exhibited a gross lack of concern for anyone but himself. It was the move of an arrogant, pompous attention hog. Come to think of it, isn't that what people say about him.......
In attending this past Thursday night Rangers-Devils game on Thursday, I was engaged in a very interesting mental debate. You see, a woman sat in the seat next to me wearing perfume that smelled like a skunk urinated in a vase containing six month old rotted flowers. It was one of those odors that made you gag every other breath. And very frankly, it hampered my enjoyment of the game. Then, on the way home, one of my buddies in the car let one rip like I've never smelled before in my life. It was like a ground hog died in his rear end. This caused me to ponder, which odor was worse?
After careful deliberation, I think my answer will surprise you. You see, as bad as the fart is, being in a car on the highway gives me the abiltiy to air the car out rather quickly. You don' get more than a few breaths of the odor before you start evacuating it. That stinking perfume stays with you all night. And after about 45 minutes straight of smelling it, the odor sticks in your nose long after the smelly broad gets up and leaves.

A few NFL thoughts for a fall Tuesday evening.

Being the diehard Giant fan that I am, I possess almost an unnatural admiration of Bill Parcells as a football coach. Out of the 3 greatest game coaching jobs I've seen in all of my years of watching pro football, Parcells authored two of them. (both in the same year -91 Championship game + 91 Super Bowl and Belichick authored the other one- 2001 Super Bowl). I have great respect for the job he did resurrecting the Jets organization. And I can listen to this guy talk football forever. Which makes it so hard to point out what I'm observing from him this season. He's lost something off of his proverbial fastball.
Over the years, Bill has lost his temper plenty. But you always got the impression on the sidelines that it was a controlled, strategic rage. Not two weeks ago in Seattle. He literally threw a punch on the sidelines at his receivers coach Todd Haley. I hate to say this, but it wasn't much different than what got Buddy Ryan run out of football. The Parcells I grew to love never would have lost control like that on the sidelines.
But its not only his temper. He's making football decisions I've never seen him make before. A few weeks back against the Giants, The Cowboys recovered a fumble at their 1 yard line with 1:26 left in the game. The Giants had 2 timeouts left. The Cowboys ran on 1st and 2nd down into the line for no gain. After each play, the Giants used a timeout. On 3rd down, with the Giants having no timeouts, Bill called a pass play and Bledsoe was forced to throw it away. With 1:12 left on the clock Parcells pissed away a chance to run 40 seconds off the clock with a 7 point lead. Its not like that 40 seconds mattered when Shockey scored the game tying touchdown with 25 seconds on the clock. No one talked about this anywhere because Dallas won the game, but thats a mistake you see Mike Martz make, not Bill Parcells.
Then we have the next week in Seattle. The Cowboys get the ball at their own 41 with 33 seconds left. 1st down, Bledsoe hits Glenn for 6 yards. 2nd down is an incomplete pass with a 10 yard holding penalty on Dallas. Now its 2nd and 14 with 19 seconds left and Bledsoe hits Glenn for 7. So with 3rd and 7 from their own 44, Bledsoe throws a sideline pattern 13 yards down the field thats woefully underthrown and intercepted and run back to the Dallas 30. Now although you can't blame the coach for a badly thrown ball, whats the purpose of the pattern?? At most, you'll have time for 1 more play, and the pattern was only called to the Seattle 43. Even if the pass is completed, it does nothing for you. Its a play that carries all risk and no reward. You're too far for a field goal. So the best you're hoping for is risking a turnover to set up a Hail Mary. Parcells always prided himself on his teams being better and smarter late in games, but he's making mistakes himself that he never made in his career. With all that said, I still think Dallas is a playoff team, but these issues Parcells has had bear watching since he's got 4 games remaining against the other 3 great coaches in the NFC East.

Interesting thing happened this weekend in the Giants/Redskins game this past weekend. The Giants defense looked like the 85 Bears. The only problem is that the Giant defense is probably an average defense at best. They had their best game of the year because they knew all of the plays. This past offseason, the Giants added ex-Redskin QB Tim Hasselbeck and ex-Redskin middle linebacker Antonio Pierce. Hasselbeck is only in the league because of a superior mental approach. His physical tools are on the lower end of most NFL quarterbacks, but he's much smarter than the average bear. Pierce was the captain of that defense who made all of the defensive calls. It was extremely obvious that these two played an enormous role in preparing this football team on both sides of the ball. As I heard Daryl Johnston discuss it during the game on Sunday, I thought to myself why you don't hear more about this kind of thing and do general managers sometimes target players in free agency who played in their divisions for this reason. The tonight on the internet, I see the headline, "Palmer sings with Niners." Mike Nolan signed Jesse Palmer for this week's Giant game. He needs a quarterback and this guy gives his team a big time preparation edge. It's a very smart move by a coach who could be a future coaching star. Everyone connected to the league has the greatest things to say about this guy. Moves like this make me it easy to see. Keep in mind, Gruden won a Super Bowl because he knew all of the Raiders plays. Its an advantage that functions as a great equalizer.

So in an earlier post, I lamented cleaning up the dreaded accident in your child's pants. And thats pretty gross, but not as gross as cleaning the "NDZ". But you know whats worse than both. The playdate accident. When your kid has a playdate who dumps in his/her own pants. When its your own kid, you can deal with the smell and the cleanup a little easier. The smell is nothing new to you. But the smell of another kid's poop is a foreign smell that can put your nasal passages into toxic shock. And if its your own kid, if you don't feel like handling the soiled clothes, you can throw them out. We refer to this as "the cost of doing business". When its another kid, you've got to bag the clothes up and send them home with the kid. The sight of the bag normally is enough for your imagination to conjure up th horrific odor and each time you inadvertently look at the bag, you get nauseous all over again.