-The Commission has a post up in response to our Scottie Pippen post. They made some good points, and did get us to admit some of our more foolish comments! On the other hand, the debate rages on, too. Like I said, it's a litmus test - some people will just believe that Pippen was a second banana, a great player, but only in the context of Jordan. And some people, like myself, will believe that while Pippen wasn't greater than Jordan, he was truly a once of a kind player, not unlike a Magic Johnson or Kevin Garnett. Seriously, he may not have been the star of the team, but just because he played second banana to the greatest player we've seen, that doesn't mean he wasn't as good as KG or some other HoFs.
-Speaking of old Bulls, The Commission also has a post up on Craig Hodges. Craig is an interesting story - he was blacklisted right out of the NBA after helping the Bulls win another title, despite not losing any talent or ability. He was replaced as the 3-point specialist on the Bulls by John Paxson, because his political views had angered some big people (read: David Stern). The final straw was after visiting the White House with the championship winning Bulls; Hodges was dressed in Afrocentric gear, and asked then-President George Bush about poverty, black people, and other hot button issues that did not sit well with the purpose of this photo op. Stern was a bit embarrassed, and next thing you know the best three point shooter in the NBA (a three-time 3-point contest winner) was unemployed.
Apparently he's now an assistant coach on the Lakers (good for Phil Jackson for reaching out to someone that contributed to those early Bulls' teams, and the prototype for Paxson, BJ Armstrong and Steve Kerr in the triangle). An ESPN reporter asked him about his interesting in comeback to play in the NBA, and whether he thought Reggie Miller should. His response was classic:
"No diss on Reggie or Penny, but my question (to them) is, do you know how to win an NBA championship? At the end of the season, who will be standing? I challenge these cats who are coming back to check my stats in terms of winning. Whether it's 3-point contests or championships, I know how to win. Reggie, on the real, last time I saw you hoopin' on the NBA level, you got your motherf----- shot blocked on a breakaway layup that you (didn't) dunk. Last time you saw Craig Hodges, I won a championship. Reggie can come back and be successful, but will he win? What's going on down the stretch, brother? We can all come back because we can see how watered-down (the league) is. It's so sickening to watch this s---.
It's nice to see Hodges hasn't lost any of his fire. That's swag talking.
-Another person who found a great quote is the HCIC, who had this post on Michael Vick's future over at Leave The Man Alone. Talking to CBS Sportsline about Vick's future, here's what an unnamed current GM had to say:
"If
he goes to prison, time will pass. Months or years will pass, if he does go to
jail. If he went to jail, and then left prison down the road, he'd still be
relatively young, and there'd be a line of 15 to 20 teams waiting to sign him.
Trust me on that. Teams are going to say, 'F--- PETA. F--- the bad pub. This
guy is one of the most talented players of the last 10 years. I'll take my
chances.'
Teams may say one thing publicly. But if he gets out of jail, we'll all be
looking at Vick hard. We're all whores in football. You know the saying. We'd
sign an ax murderer if he has ability. He'll be back. He won't be back in
She then points out that it is a real possibility that the other owners in the league may have pulled a quick one on the Falcons' new owner, Arthur Blank, telling him that he should cut Vick because he's bad PR, but all eagerly awaiting the opportunity to sign him after he gets out of prison.
Our thought: The Falcons are idiots for letting the press run with the story. No one manipulates and controls their sports coverage like the NFL; the NFL owns all its critics, because every major network - NBC, ABC/ESPN, CBS - wants their packages. Now the Falcons are left holding the bag - a sh*tty, lucky to be better than 4-12, Joey Harrington is my pilot, bag. Good luck with that, Arthur. Oh, yeah: Good luck getting whatever few fans you had to re-up on seasons tickets when you look like you sold out on the black community, in the city with one of the largest middle class black populations in the US.
-Speaking of Vick, we're not big fans of the Tuesday Morning Quarterback. Or rather, we used to enjoy reading him, like Bill Simmons, more five years ago then we do now. But his article on Michael Vick, and whether to sympathize with him, was pretty good for the most part.
There is a bit of a double-standard here, of course. White journalists can say stuff "defending" Michael Vick. A white GM (Ron Wolf) can say this about Michael Vick:
We've had a lot of people in this league do a lot of bad things, and they still got a chance. Leonard Little killed someone (while drunk driving). Jamal Lewis went to prison (in connection to) selling drugs. Are you telling me that killing eight dogs is worse than killing a human being? ... Yes, this is bad, but are you really telling me that he doesn't deserve a chance to play again when other people have committed crimes and come back?"
But other (black) athletes can't defend Vick in any way or form. For example, Stephon Marbury just got trashed again (if you don't believe he's gotten trashed, just read Mitch Lawrence's column in today's Daily News, which is too crappy for me to link to) for defending Vick as a "good human being who... fell into a bad situation
Lawrence's response? "Good human being? Who's kidding
who?
Some more from Lawrence on Marbury's comments:
"I think it's tough," Marbury
Maybe Marbury doesn't know that hunting deer, along
with other animals, is a legal activity, but engaging in the heinous acts
perpetrated by Vick and his degenerate cronies most certainly is not.
Dogfighting is nothing more than a sick crime.
Here's the take on Vick that I think makes the most sense, from the National President of the NAACP Dennis Hayes:
"Michael Vick is not a victim." "He absolutely must account for what he has done."
"People need to understand the backdrop as some in the African-American community make their expressions of support," Hayes said. "That backdrop includes anger and distrust with the criminal justice system that disproportionately pays attention to African-Americans and Hispanics.
"While no dog deserves to be mistreated, the backdrop includes the perception among some African-Americans that the criminal justice system treats them like animals and that nobody seems willing to do anything about the disparity."
Keep in mind the outrage about the electrocution of dogs when reading this article on Kenneth Foster, who will shortly be put to death (by electrocution or lethal injection) in Texas. Then maybe you'll understand why the African-American community is disgusted by the amount of attention placed on vilifying Vick (even though the justice system was working as it was suppose to for the most part, without the need for outrage) while ignoring real situations where the American justice system is failing.
-One last Vick-related comment. I won't link to it, either, because it's really awful, but Deadspin linked to an article this past weekend about "The top 10 worst athlete-criminals" of all time or something equally lame. I knew the article was going to suck just by reading the intro:
You'd think these guys could stay
straignt, with the money they make, but no, the more they get, the more they
think they can get away with. Pleanty to choose from, in the NBA alone, 40% of
the players heve criminal records.
40%? Nah, I don't think so. Not even if you include minor misdemeanors like possession of weed. But here is a statistic that is true - 100% of your sentences have multiple spelling errors. Considering you only wrote about 20 words, you would think you could spell more than 15 of them correctly. I hate to criticize another person's spelling, but it's hard to trust the statistics of someone who probably can't spell "statistic".
Anyway, we knew what the list would look like right away. One or two token white criminals, and you know who at the top of the list. So let's see it:
10. Cocaine Trafficer Mercury Morris. Okay, good choice.
9. Craig MacTavish - vehicular manslaughter. Wait a minute, this guy killed someone and he served less than what Vick's going to get? And he's a head coach now?!? What the f*ck? Can you imagine the outrage if Vick was hired to be a QB coach (or RB coach, as the case may be) by an NFL team? But the NHL can hire someone with blood - human blood - on his hands?!? Let's move on...
8. Ugueth Urbina. Yep, he belongs on this list.
7. Dany Heatley, manslaughter. Yep, he belongs on the list. No doubt he'll serve less than Vick, too. Wouldn't it be nice if sportsfans protested people who drive drunk and kill people? Or at least showed some outrage at Tony LaRussa for DUI.
6. Mike Danton - Attempted murder. Wait, NBA players are thugs? NBA players have 40% criminal records? The NHL is more violent than the NBA, and does less charity, too. F*ck anyone that calls the NBA a league of thugs... call them out on their BS. Ask them about the NHL.
5. Rae Carruth. Yep.
4. Ray Lewis. Yep, we know he would be on the list, and agree. We actually think he got off lightly. If he had gotten the Vick treatment we might have understood more. After all, he did contribute to the deaths of another human being. Of course, most black people would say "duh, killing another black man isn't, apparently, as much a crime as killing a dog".
3. Mike Tyson. Okay. Odd that he's higher than murderers and manslaughter-ers, but I'm not going to get into a discussion on which is worse, rape or murder. Both are bad, and both are worthy of being on this list.
2. Michael Vick. See, told you he would be here. Yeah, the accused dog killer is worse than people who kill humans or rape women. If you believe that, you're an idiot who deserves to get their face bitten off by a pit bull. Or eaten by wild dingos. Or shot by a hunter.
1. OJ Simpson. What a surprise to see him at #1!
So there you have it - people have found their new OJ Simpson, though he's not as bad as the old one.
You know, just once I would like to see a blog do a post about the "Top 10 generous sports athletes" and get some attention.
-On to something totally different: The Economist has an article on former NYC police commission (and current LA commish) William Bratton's innovative approach to police gangs in LA. It's apparently inspired by watching an episode or two of The Wire (the best TV show not just on TV right now, but possibly ever - if you have not watched it, do yourself a favor and watch Season 1. Guaranteed you'll be hooked, and it only gets better every season after that):
"They can exist," says William
Bratton, the head of the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD),
"but they must behave." A gang that murders people will be harried by civil
injunctions and crackdowns on petty probation violations. A gang that avoids
extravagant violence--as many do--will be left alone, more or less.
-Free Darko had a nice touching post about Eddie Griffin's death yesterday that brought up the topic of his mental illness (Griffin suffered from bouts of depression, and perhaps other disorders), and how it wasn't covered very much in the rush to label him "troubled". It's a very solid post from our favorite archenemy, Brown Recluse.
-Plissken at the Buzzer (Ty Keenan's site which I mistakenly called West Coast Basketball in an earlier post) has
a very detail recap post covering last night's USA-Venezuela basketball game. He really breaks down how the USA team moved and looked, and, as a bonus, gets in a nice Bill Walton clip from You Tube (in which he compares Boris Diaw to... see it for yourself). It'll be interesting to see how this USA Basketball squad performs against the big dogs in South America - Brazil and Argentina.
-The Starting Five, as always, is on top of the little things, you know, the facts. In particular JWeiler in this post gets into the Marbury comments on Vick's situation. The money line comes near the end of the post:
"It is an on-going source of irritation to me that Marbury, who's shown more of a social conscience than 99% of all athletes (and sports media), is an ongoing source of ridicule, tempered nary at all by any respect for what he's tried to do off the court.
It's sad that no matter how much good Marbury does, he'll alway make more news for saying something like "I want to go to Italy after my contract expires and be a David Beckham", a comment which is interesting, but hardly as "nutty" as reported by the MSM.
-Finally, MC Bias is once again making us think hard about blogging and bloggers. He followed up his amazing "Rules of Bloggaria" posts with this one on "Blog Ethics". If you are a blogger, you should read this and think hard about what you want out of your writing.
Bonus: The Jets finally traded disgruntled guard Pete Kendell to DC (we try not to say their name) for a middle round draft pick. Great, wonderful. Now the Jets will have their choice between two inexperienced options at guard to replace Kendell. Which makes sense, because they have such a durable quarterback in Chad Pennington. You shouldn't worry about his blind side protection too much.
Sigh. It really does change my perception of the upcoming season. I was really looking forward to this Jets season, and still am. Perhaps it is because of my years as a Jets fan, but I can't help but feel that the Jets' cheapness (Kendell wanted a $1 million raise, which he gave back after a bad season a couple of years ago, but felt he earned back after a good season last year) is going to come back to bite them. One, it's bad karma. Two, it leads to other players viewing the situation and feeling less motivated to play well for the Jets... not that it matters too much, because players have enough motivation to win, and to play well for themselves to make money, but it does hurt when players feel the team has no loyalty to their players. It makes them more business-like. Three, most importantly - the Jets needed his veteran leadership on the line. He's a savvy veteran with years of experience being replaced by a young kid (whichever one the Jets go with) who doesn't know the system as well... the offensive line is so important - the Jets 2005 season was ruined because injuries to the line weakened it so much that Chad Pennington, Jay Fiedler, Curtis Martin and a couple of other backup QB/RB suffered major injuries that knocked them out for the season. That's a direct result of the line's inability to block. I only hope we don't see a repeat of that this season....
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Thanks for the mention. I should make it clear, though, that I didn't write the post on my own--my co-writer Carter Blanchard did, too.
How in hell did Leonard Little not make that list? Kills someone while DUI, then goes out and gets another DUI a few years later. And Carruth is only fifth?! Since you mentioned it with the MC Bias posts, this is the kind of thing that upsets me about the rampant listmaking in Blogburgh. I'm fine with making a list, if that's your site's m.o., but think about where you're ranking people and do it well.
You need to get more traffic man, cause you have some good things to say. It's a list of top ten criminals and number one is a man who was acquitted. Isn't life funny?
I am back after 3 weeks off and I see I didn't miss much of NBA news, right my friend?
thanks for posting the Craig Hodges quote, priceless. He played in Italy for a couple of years, and even well
later
You mention this all the time, but never give the back story: What's your beef with the recluse. I need to know these things.
Rickhouse, u r talking to me?
Nah, Ricky - Rickhouse is talking to me. Yeah, it's a bit of a running joke, this "beef" between Brown Recluse and SML. At some point, it started that whenever I posted something in the comments at FreeDarko that didn't jive with Brown Recluse's comments or post, he would reply "SML hates me". He started getting into the habit of doing this, so now I've gotten into the habit of playing along like I hate Brown Recluse. Which is only partially true - he is a noted Bulls fan, and Knick hater, so there is legit beef there, too!
LOL ok thanks
I thought he was talking to me and that he perhaps wanted some more info about Hodges playing in Italy,
I recall saying the same sentence ("he played here in Italy") about other former NBA players in some blogs without giving any furher detail (where, when, how etc) so that's where the misunderstanding come from.
He's no Craig Hodges biographer, cool (LOL)
I'm not a Vick hater nor am I a Vick defender. While I did believe he was entitled to his day in court, I wouldn't have sat on that jury because I already had prejudice about the case and wasn't objective.
But our justice system looks real hypocritical when Tim Donaghy might not serve prison time for being a crooked ref and a menace to neighbors and postmen and former Flyer/Coyote Rick Tocchet was one of the ring leaders in a multi-million dollar gambling ring and gets nothing but probation. It looks like the white boys get off with a slap on the wrist while Vick gets prison time.