Sportsattitudes Mailbox – Dwight Howard Finally “Gets” His Stan…R-E-S-P-E-C-T…and R.I.P. Fab Five

Posted on May 23, 2012 by

Another chance to respond to imaginary questions from imaginary readers…

Q. Stan Van Gundy is out as Head Coach of the Orlando Magic.  Where did it all go wrong?

A. When the Magic didn’t deal Dwight Howard long ago and get him some multiple ammo pieces in return to reload with.  Their 86-year-old Owner wants a title.  I hope he’s not picky about getting it while he’s alive.  Van Gundy’s stat line…five playoffs in five seasons…twice to the Conference Finals and once to the NBA Finals…a .641 winning percentage.  Of course you’d get rid of him…not.

Truthfully, Stan didn’t help matters for his retention when he told the media in early April top-ranking team officials informed him Dwight asked for Van Gundy to be axed before he could even consider signing a long-term contract…which we all know he isn’t planning on doing anyway.  At least we all know it aside from the Magic themselves.  Orlando has obviously decided they’d rather be completely humiliated by Dwight Howard than partially.  Dwight finally “got” his Stan.  Soon, Dwight will “get” the entire franchise when he leaves.  Who’ll be wearing those Mickey Mouse ears then?

Q. David Ortiz and Chris Perez both made comments recently that seemed to indicate they felt disrespect?  What really are these beefs about?

A. David Ortiz has obviously been having disrespected issues since he had to settle on a one-year, $14.75 million deal instead of a two-year contract.  Myself, I would be devoid of any disrespect feelings whatsoever if I made $14.75 million this year.  But David seemed quite upset Monday night that the media found out he apparently called a team meeting back in the midst of the latest Red Sox drama, Josh Beckett’s publicly stubborn stance to play golf while “off.”  Ortiz went into a rant about who gets called a leader in their organization…while also simultaneously saying he didn’t give a (expletive) who gets called a leader.  This was AFTER a game he hit a home run in…and Boston won.  Very confusing timing.

Meanwhile…Chris Perez struck out the side Saturday and earned a big save for his Indians.  This result THEN moved him to publicly crush Cleveland fans for not better-attending the team’s games up until now.  Again…weird timing.  But that’s not the weirdest part…here’s part of his rant:

“Baseball is supposed to be fun.  It is like that in Philadelphia every day.  It helps you.  You draw energy from the fans.”

Chris…have you heard what is going on here in Philly this season?  Fun?  FUN?  No. Truth be told, most Phils would probably first mention the word “pressure” before “fun” in describing any of their prior, more-successful seasons playing in front of their fans.  If you need consistent large attendance to have fun playing baseball you’ll have a very small list of teams to choose from when you depart Cleveland someday (soon?).  I understand someone once nicknamed you “Pure Rage.”  I get that now.  I also get that you don’t get fans.  Ripping Cleveland in a better economy might get some more Clevelanders out…to boo you.  In this economy, they’ll either now do it from the privacy of their own home…or not even follow your team anymore.  By the way, if you equate having fans in the stands as how you derive fun from baseball what in God’s name are you doing in Cleveland in the first place?

Q. Next year, the NCAA’s 10-year ban on recognition of the Michigan “Fab Five” basketball scandal will conclude.  Do you think the university will then “re-raise the banners” and celebrate their on-court achievements once again?

A. This is the thing with “vacated” achievements.  You can strip the trophy case clean but those memories last forever.  I saw where one of the infamous stars, Jalen Rose, has said he might pull his academic scholarships offered to Michigan if they refuse to re-embrace the people associated with the teams that played during the tainted years in question.

Jalen, all you’ll be remembered for now is taking such a childish, immature, pathetic stance.    Oh wait…you’ll also be remembered for that drive-by you dropped in the documentary you produced on your “Fab Five” experience:

“Schools like Duke didn’t recruit players like me.  I felt that they only recruited black players that were Uncle Toms. … I was jealous of Grant Hill. He came from a great black family. Congratulations. Your mom went to college and was roommates with Hillary Clinton. Your dad played in the NFL as a very well-spoken and successful man. I was upset and bitter that my mom had to bust her hump for 20-plus years. I was bitter that I had a professional athlete that was my father that I didn’t know. I resented that, moreso than I resented him. I looked at it as they are who the world accepts and we are who the world hates.”

Q. Always like to hear your current thoughts on the four Philly teams?  Whatcha got this time around?

A: See below…

Flyers – They were quite satisfied after beating down the Penguins and before they realized they were in another series, they were out of it.  And now, the two stars they traded away last season will play for the Stanley Cup.  Oops.

Sixers -  Doug Collins keeps screaming at his players like he’s addressing a college team.  In many ways, he is.  Doug really should be coaching one level down if he still wants to lead a basketball squad.  These Sixers should be packaging some of these guys together and trying to get a flat-out star.  If you build it…they will come.  You can’t get two stars here until you get one.  This team has none.  That’s a problem.  Even the “ultimate team” San Antonio has stars.

Eagles – LeSean McCoy has himself a five-year, $45 million extension.  This may be the single greatest pro-active event in the Andy Reid era.  Unfortunately, Reid has made comments on more than one occasion this off-season he’s going to be looking to lighten Shady’s load.  Andy, the guy is 23.  You’re always one play away from the end of your career.  Here’s an idea.  Feed him the rock all year-long until he waves for a replacement.  Don’t over think this, Andy.  Try to win it all for a change.  I’d say Reid was only one play away from the end of his career…but we already know he’s a lifer here, don’t we?

Phillies – I have seen more than one article about how the team should now be sellers for the trade deadline.  Are you kidding me?  This whole season was obviously calculated out by management for the squad to limp along until Chase Utley and Ryan Howard limped back into the clubhouse…and then take its chances for the balance of 2012.  Until those two have their short and long-term status resolved this is no time to start moving more pieces around.  I know the team wants to sign its potential free agents Cole Hamels and Shane Victorino – or hang them out as bait - but first things first.  Everyone in the front office has been so bleeping stoic about Utley and Howard.  They made this bed.  They have to stay in it now…until Utley and Howard can finally get out of theirs.

Q. I understand Cincinnati and Xavier are going to play their annual, highly spirited basketball rivalry next year at a neutral court.  Details?

A. The U.S. District Court for the Southern District Of Ohio is located at the corner of Fifth Street between Walnut and Main.  100 East Fifth.

Q. Just saw the NFL is making the wearing of thigh and knee pads mandatory starting next year.  Why?

A. Because the “Pandora’s Box” the Commish opened when he started his Tuesday morning film study and decided to read minds as to intent and danger has now served to make all the concussion lawsuits more viable.  He now has to do everything – and I mean everything – he can think of to give the appearance the NFL has always been about player safety first and foremost.  I’ve worked him over to Death in this space so I’ll try to spare readers another rant of my own.  The point I’d just like to make is unless there is a manila folder of papers somewhere which outline in great detail how the NFL secretly tested and subsequently determined permanent brain damage was occurring in their players years ago and they did nothing…these lawsuits were a long shot.  Were is the operative word here…because the Commish reacted to these legal challenges by putting a “Bat Signal” in the air football has been “discovered” to be dangerous to one’s health.  He blew it…and the game will never be the same from the pros to the pee-wees.  That is, if pee-wee football is even in existence a couple years from now.  Football players knew – and know - playing football is dangerous.  Proving the NFL knew specifically just how much and then kept it from players is quite the legal matter altogether…at least until you start acting like your sport might be illegal in the first place.

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LeBron James’ Cavalier Effort Keeps Heat On Pacers

Posted on May 21, 2012 by

LeBron James has always gotten a fair, even-handed shake here.  If you scroll through the archives of my prior Miami Heat posts, you’ll find:

1. I think “The Decision” was handled in the worst possible way he could have handled it.

2. I think “The Disco Party” celebrating “The Decision” was the worst possible thing he could have done immediately after making “The Decision.”

3. I think he can be one of the all-time greatest basketball players ever but he simply hasn’t brought his “A” game when it has been most needed, frustrating me further by the way he has recently gone about his business when those times have been upon him.

Yesterday in Indianapolis…with Chris Bosh out and Dwyane Wade looking as drained as the knee he apparently had drained earlier in the week…LeBron James put the Miami Heat franchise on his very broad shoulders and willed Game 4 from the Indiana Pacers, 101-93.

Of course the Heat would not have won if not for the timely re-awakening of Wade…as well as a resurgence from a previously, equally quiet Udonis Haslem.  Yet, I choose to believe James’ super-human effort helped rev up both of these guys.  LeBron was finding every way possible to get Dwyane jump-started…and Udonis became desperate to find his game once his teammate of nine years found his.

And desperate it was, for if the Heat had failed to win Sunday after Thursday’s pitiful exhibition in Indy who knows if Miami puts together three straight wins against this Pacers club, a gritty team that scratches and claws from the opening tip to the final buzzer.

James’ court carnage calculated out to 40 points, 18 rebounds and 9 assists…Wade’s 30 points, 9 rebounds and 6 assists.  At one point, between them they scored 38 consecutive points.  Yet it was Haslem’s trio of mid-range jumpers in crunch time that finally punched out Indiana’s opportunity to take a 3-1 series lead.  Ironic in that Udonis was punched out earlier in the game and required nine stitches over his eye.  That probably didn’t hurt his motivation level either.

LeBron haters will dine on the fact the game was just an appetizer and not the NBA Finals…their entree will be he had another superstar play one of his greatest games to assist…the dessert is the opponent was “just” the up-and-coming Indiana Pacers and not a “real” challenge.

Whatever.  Chew on all that if you like.

Those who haven’t made LeBron James “personal” will tell you he played one of the greatest NBA Playoff games ever.  If you saw it, you didn’t need either his final stats or the historical research after the fact to know this.  All you had to do was watch.  The man would not be denied…and he clearly wasn’t going to let Wade be denied either, looking to create multiple chances to feed him the ball until he got his confidence and rhythm back.  James’ eyes were laser-like; his steely focus etched on his face each trip up and down the court.

Speaking towards Wade’s motivation outside of the way James went off…he was fouled awkwardly by Indiana’s Roy Hibbert and when he challenged that fact in galloped the Pacers’ Danny Granger to get in Dwyane’s grill.

This wasn’t the first time Granger tried to goad Miami into a macho showdown in this series.

He might want to make that his last.  The timing of that event and Dwyane’s resurgence seemed to also be relevant.

When Chris Bosh was injured, many folks thought James would then have to spend most of his time down low battling the Pacers’ bigs.  Well, whether or not it was Wade’s time with his old college coach Tom Crean on Friday…or his time with his current pro coach Eric Spoelstra on Saturday and Sunday…or James himself…maybe front-office guru Pat Riley even…SOMEONE figured out both LeBron and Dwyane needed to start moving and weaving in and around those bigs.  They needed to move, move and move some more…getting Indiana’s post players outside their comfort zone, screened away from the basket…and losing all contact with James and Wade in the process.

James’ detractors will also be quick to tell you it’s just one win…and the Pacers were in the game to the very end.  Both are true.

Hey, no one knows how this series will play out.  But one thing all reasonable, clear minds should be able to agree on is…yesterday we got the LeBron James we assume we’ll see most days once the NBA post-season begins.  The same LeBron James we saw in certain Playoff games back when he was wearing a Cleveland Cavaliers uni.

Yesterday he had a game for the record books.  But you didn’t need to see any records from it.

You just had to see him perform.

With an open mind of course…

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NBA Playoffs 2012: LeBron Taking Charge, Players Taking Charges…Random Association Observations

Posted on May 16, 2012 by

On last night’s TBS telecast of the Pacers-Heat playoff game, play-by-play man Marv Albert was trying to lay out the upcoming schedule of games for the rest of their series and got confused as to what day it was.  Analyst Steve Kerr quickly and deftly offered up the “tag line” the network has been known to use in promoting the Association’s post-season…“You know Marv…40 Games In 40 Nights.”

Some NBA thoughts at this point in the playoffs…

1. I just saw a quote this morning.  It is from former U.S. (Utah) Senator Robert Foster Bennett:

“A desire to be in charge of our own lives, a need for control, is born in each of us.  It is essential to our mental health, and our success, that we take control.”

This made me think of LeBron James.

During that Indiana-Miami Game 2 last evening, it was a good thing James is a “five-tool” guy because he was literally playing all five positions.  The “talent” he is surrounded with on South Beach (aside from Dwyane Wade and the currently injured Chris Bosh of course) is arguably worse than he had in Cleveland.  Yet, there he was…playing end-to-end basketball and showing no end to his God-given physical abilities.  He finished with a stat line that only three other players have accumulated in a playoff game over the last twenty-five years.  28 points, 9 rebounds, 6 steals, 5 assists.

His last shot attempt from the field was with 3:35 left in the game.

How can that be?

LeBron, if you want to be forgiven…if you want to be loved…take control.  Take charge.

2. Speaking of taking charge, we have the annual yakking again about players flopping to draw a call.  I have read in a number of cases people feel the NBA officials have too much on their plate to try to determine when someone is embellishing contact.  I guess NHL officials don’t…

“Rule 64.1 – Diving/Embellishment – Any player who blatantly dives, embellishes a fall or a reaction, or who feigns an injury shall be penalized with a minor penalty under this rule.”

As I suggested back during one of my college b-ball posts, if we hadn’t complicated the charge call in basketball none of this would be difficult at all to call.  I know in my day we wore knee pads, but we also had no issues with making charge calls.  Your feet were planted and your body was directly in front of the baller.  If he ran over you…charge.  If you were moving in any way…block.  When we started allowing the defender to float along with the ball-carrier, we carried the complexity of the call to a whole new level.  Go back to the old-school rule for charging.  I think you’ll then find those NBA zebras will be able to pick out floppers from fallers…and don’t tell me they can’t separate who’s faking it on establishing position down low.  If they can’t figure that out, maybe the league needs to get some new blood at that position rather than all these thirty-year “veterans.”  Make it a personal foul, award free throws and the ball back…and start keeping track of embellishment calls like technicals.

Once someone reaches a threshold to be determined, have them flop down on their bench for a game or two.

3. The regular-season ratings are in and they are up.  Interest is high.  Anything to do with the fact the season started at Christmas instead of Halloween?  A number of high-profile players have been injured both in the regular and the post-season.  There are those who will pin this on the compressed schedule.  I think most fans “join” the NBA on Christmas Day anyway.  I’d like to see a shorter regular season with the advantage of being planned out well in advance.  David Stern rightly pointed out in an interview the other day existing contracts with television partners, arenas, cities, etc. are all based on the “full” schedule.  Let me channel my inner Allen Iverson here.  “Contracts?  We’re talking about contracts?” I am sure the NBA can find their way to a reduced season if they could be convinced the revenue hit on a fewer number of games can be offset by more ad dollars if audiences continue to grow…especially the youth demographic.  No, I don’t think a smaller season will actually happen.  But I also don’t think this one caused any more injuries than if they had practiced and played their usual three-fourths of a year.

You don’t think being on a court three-fourths of a year increases the possibility of injuries?

4. I don’t know how many folks saw the moving screen foul call on Boston’s Kevin Garnett at the end of their Game 2 playoff against Philadelphia.  There has been so much discussion along the lines of, “You don’t make that call in that situation.”  People (outside of Boston) seem to agree there was indeed a foul…but there is little agreement as to if it should have been announced as such.

If you saw any of Game 7 between the Clippers and the Grizzlies, you could apply that statement to the full forty-eight minutes.

Let’s agree that a foul is a foul no matter what.  That makes it easy for everyone to work with.  And if you have to blow the whistle every five seconds from the opening tap, so be it.  Players will get it…eventually.  The NBA should not be like the offensive line play in the NFL…where holding occurs every down and the league just shrugs its collective shoulders and calls the most egregious ones.

The LA-Memphis finale was a debacle.  It looked like…well…offensive line play in the NFL.  People channel surfing probably thought they had stumbled upon an MMA event without the octagon.

A foul is a foul.  Any other way…is just foul play.

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London Olympics 2012 – “Field” Events Include Discus, Hammer, Shot Put…and Missile

Posted on May 15, 2012 by

The brainchild of Frenchman Pierre de Coubertin, the Olympic Movement was established back in 1894.  Its objective is defined in the Olympic Charter:

“The goal of the Olympic Movement is to contribute to building a peaceful and better world by educating youth people through sport practised in accordance with Olympism and its values.”

“Peaceful and better world” were not among the words found on flyers recently passed out to some London residents by their Ministry of Defense.  What was on the leaflets was information their residential apartment building may serve as a temporary military base for housing a “high-velocity missile system.”

The New York Times’ Sarah Lyall ran the story, quoting one of the lucky leaflet recipients:

“It looked like one of those things where you get free pizzas through the post.  But this was like, free missiles.”

Shooting for a peaceful and better world is something we can aim for, but you can’t deny we’re probably a few centuries away from that target.  Fortunately for the lucky residents of this apartment complex, the Ministry assures them (via the handout, in the “Frequently Asked Questions” section mind you) they’re fortunate indeed to be chosen to potentially house Rapier surface-to-air missiles on their house because it will “improve your local security and not make you a target for terrorists.”

Of course these handouts triggered haggling from all sides.  City residents who wonder what happens if those missiles misfire.  City residents who wonder if they’ll be targets because they DON’T have a missile system in their neighborhood.

And…Thank God…at least one other person besides me who wonders what happens if terrorists do decide to lob something in the direction of London and the Ministry decides to intercept it downtown with one of those high-velocity missiles.

Jan Wind, a retired Dutch Navy captain and director of the Hague-based Wiser Consultancy:

“When you launch a Rapier missile and shoot down an aircraft, it’s not like the whole thing vanishes.  It’s 100% tons of metal, scraps and other stuff that is coming down.  If a Rapier is used, the damage could be just about the same as the intentions of the terrorist – only on another spot.  The goal of the terrorists will be met in a certain sense.”

Duh.

It’s been no secret these kinds of precautions have been taken for other events of global magnitude since 9/11.  In most cases I have heard of, security has been discreetly positioned…designed to ward off the enemy long before their intended target.

The British military sought to assure citizens after all this got out by clarifying any decision to launch missiles from rooftops would come from the highest levels of government.

The levels of government who thought this was a sensible idea in the first place.

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Cole Hamels, Tough Guy

Posted on May 8, 2012 by

The United Negro College Fund has used the phrase for four decades now: “A mind is a terrible thing to waste.”

When I first heard of Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Cole Hamels’ decision to deliberately throw at the Washington Nationals’ teen phenom outfielder Bryce Harper in the first inning of a game last Sunday evening, I wasn’t terribly surprised based on how Harper periodically “acted out” on his way to the big leagues.  I assumed (having admittedly not seen any of the weekend series between the two clubs) Harper had done something extremely unprofessional or unbecoming to infuriate his opposition…and Hamels was simply making a statement that kind of behavior would not be tolerated by the Phils.

And then I subsequently learned Hamels’ reasoning was…well…lacking any reason at all:

“That’s something I grew up watching, that’s kind of happened.  So I’m just trying to continue the old baseball because I think some people are kind of getting away from it.  I remember when I was a rookie the strike zone was really, really small and you didn’t say anything because that’s the way baseball is.  But I think unfortunately the league’s protecting certain players and making it not that old-school, prestigious way of baseball.”

My mind is still trying to wrap itself around that garbled testimony…as well as the fact no one in the local Philly media apparently can unearth anything Harper did or said over the weekend to even marginally rationalize getting deliberately thrown at.  My mind is also trying to process the fact Hamels ADMITTED he threw at Harper, which of course automatically takes money out of his pocket and makes him a potential “repeat offender” for future situations should they arise…not that baseball actually punishes anyone.

I could have cared less about all this nonsense until people started to call Hamels a “tough guy” for his action, allegedly taking it upon himself to represent all of major league baseball in letting this budding superstar teenager know nothing would come easy for him upon arriving in the show just a short time ago.

“Tough guy?”  Cole isn’t even the toughest person in his own bedroom.

That title is reserved for his wife, Heidi.  She was on “Survivor.”  I don’t think Cole could have lasted more than a couple of days on an island.  In fact, even if he survived the initial starvation and sunburn he would surely have been voted off early on for not being able to play nice with others.

Some baseball fans seem to have conveniently forgotten how selfish, petulant and whiny Cole Hamels was…is?

2005 – He broke his pitching hand in a bar fight prior to the start of his minor-league season.  That was brilliantly selfish, especially when the organization was already putting up with his various injury issues and history.

2007 - In only his second year in the bigs, he called out the organization for not providing a full-time chiropractor on the road…and even claimed he wouldn’t have been on the DL if they had one.  Ruben Amaro, Jr. publicly responded to the “cheap Phillies” assertion, questioning if the elbow tendon problem Hamels was having at the time was really relevant to being best served by chiropractic medicine.

2008 – Before his third season even began, Hamels questioned the organization low-balling him on salary, calling it a “low-blow” and catching him “off-guard”…and knowing the fact Hamels is ”in play” right now for future employment, check out this fascinating (yet equally convoluted) quote from back then:

“They do want to keep you happy, and that will affect down the line with certain things that come up because you can’t just all of a sudden throw everything out (at a player) at the last second and think that’s really going to make him happy because he’s still got check marks for what they didn’t do in the years before.”

2009 – After signing a 3-year, $20.5 million deal with the organization…Hamels left training camp complaining of arm troubles while the Phillies’ medical staff could not figure out what was wrong (apparently, neither could any chiropractors).  In the World Series that year, after losing Game 3 he told reporters, “I can’t wait for it to end.”  This prompted the now famous quote from teammate Brett Myers several days later who said to Hamels, “What are you doing here?  I thought you quit.”

I have always felt deliberately throwing a baseball at a batter is gutless period.  Hearing Hamels’ bizarre explanation of why he did it in this instance is sad.  And as you can see from the above, not so surprising when you consider how he has conducted himself at times over his relatively short time in the majors.

A mind IS a terrible thing to waste.

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