Vick victim of inevitable legal backlash

  Simpson sealed Vick's fate a long time ago

           I remember watching the 'not guilty' verdict handed down in the O.J. Simpson murder trial and being stunned beyond belief.

It wasn't because I thought Simpson actually killed Nicole Simpson and Ron Goldman, because I know he didn't. This is not coming from a black person who has an axe to grind with white people, but rather from a guy who knows the type of people who are capable of committing a double murder with a knife, and trust me in terms of criminal capability, Simpson isn't that talented of a murderer.

I'm one of the few people who thought the civil judement was probably justified, despite the mockery it made of the judicial system. I always felt as though Simpson played a role in their murders and was very likely present at the time of the killings.

So in that regard he should've had to fork over tens of millions of dollars for getting away with killing his baby's mama and her boy toy. most black men who commit that crime are currently on death row or still in their white Broncos ducking the feds.

While Kobe Bryant benefited from the fact that the majority of the public never really belived that he assaulted the girl who had accused him of rape, he was just as lucky that his victim was willing to get her payday without ever having to appear in a trial setting (surprise, surprise huh?).

Had Bryant been forced to endure a real live trial, things may had ended up very differently for him, this is still America.

When Bryant's legal issue came up, the biggest tell-tale that things were going to work in his favor came from one of the premeire corporations in the state of colorado, the Denver Nuggets.

Bryant was being wooed by the Nuggets to the tune of 130 million dollars while he was facing a rape charge in that state!

O.J. was well into retirement when his case came in front of the American public, but the former Heisman trophy winner had already invested years of his life courting and massaging corporate America, translation: white people, into thinking that among blacks, he was one of the good ones.

The paradox of the Vick situation is that O.J.'s victory almost seemed to empower many black entertainers and athletes by creating the facade that as long as you have enough money in the bank, you could get away with almost anything, even if you're black.

Adam 'Pacman' Jones is still walking around with hopes of playing football in the near future mainly because he's only famous because of his crimes.

Making Jones an example for the legal system wouldn't accomplish much because we all expect Pacman to go to jail sooner or later anyway.

Vick on the other hand was the payback that the judicial system has wanted ever since O.J. stood in that L.A. courtroom with that s**t-eating grin after hearing those infamous word...'not guilty'.

Outside of Peyton Manning, Vick was probably the most recognizable and marketable player in the NFL, with Reggie Bush coming on strong.

On top of that, because of all the back biting and questions about his competence by television analysts and football gurus, Vick had also become a sort of champion among the black football crowd.

That fact is extremely evident as we watch the race relations of city of Atlanta deteriorate to almost pre Civil War levels, all because of the dueling perceptions that blacks and whites have of the embattled quarterback.

 The black people's champion?

So with an opportunity to nail the biggest hero for black sports fans, in O.J.'s sport no less, the Feds were as giddy as Dick Cheney at a Halaburton proxy meeting.

Tommorrow morning when I eat my scrambled chicken embryos and fried dead animal flesh, I won't bat an eyelash for fear of PETA picketing outside of my front door.

While the alleged actions of Vick and his cohorts (what ever happened to 'stop snitching'?) may seem horrendous to many dog lovers, the abuse that animals suffer worldwide for our guilty pleasures, pales in comparison.

You would've thought that someone with Vick's bank account and a boss like Arthur Blank could've manage to squeeze Vick out of this predicament with a few million dollars spread around here and there.

Unfortunately for Vick, as bad as Blank wanted to get his hands on the Lombardi Trophy, after watching O.J. playing golf and still dating white women for the past 12 years, the judicial system wanted their trophy much, much more.

You know that basketball must be God's favorite sport, because he was so bored with the NBA season that he made sure the off season would get better daily ratings than the ultra boring finals which the league served us.

As much as I want to go on and on about how the New Yorks Knicks could possibly manage to get Kboe Bryant playing the Garden next season, I am certain that even Mitch Kupchack is that pathetic of a GM...but we can always hope!

Finally ESPN's Bill Simmons said what I've been saying all along, only better.

Why should Portland draft Greg Oden when they already have Zach Randolph, a 25 & 15 guy even in the Western Conference and Lamrcus Aldridge, the other lottery pick from last season when they managed to snare the ROY( and with his last name we didn't see that one coming?

I've said from the outset that the Trailblazers needed to add some scoring from the perimeter in order to free up even more space for Randolph, but Simmons goes one better by suggesting Portland swap picks with Seattle and sign free agent to be Rashard Lewis in a sign and trade that allows them to dump Darius Miles as well. http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/070620

That would be a brilliant move on the part of the Blazers,

but like most others I don't believe that Blazers GM Pritchard will have the balls to not draft Oden so it's really all a moot point.

Although I would love to see Kobe in a Knicks uniform we all know that's not going to happen.

I would still be just as Giddy to see himin the Eastern Conference where he would almost automatically make to at least the second round of the playoffs for a change and possibly entertain the thought of going for 100 points in a game. Can you imagine Kobe getting like three cracks apiece at either the Knicks, Bobcats, Bucks, Raptors, Hawks and Celtics in one season?!

I keep hearing people talking about Kobe tarnishing his image and being a diva for the way he is trying to force the hand of Laker owner Jerry Buss.

Bull hockey!

Both Magic Johnson and Michael Jordan forced management to make trades that were not neccessarily in the best interest of their current franchises and after 11 total championships how do you think that worked out for the two of them?

Barkley did it in Philly and immediately went straight to the NBA Finals, Vince did it a few seaosn back in Toronto and everyone understood.

Kobe does not want to be the new KG and I don't blame him.

He is the game's best player and we are watching him in his prime NBA years playing alonside the likes of Smush Parker and Andrew Bynum as co-starters.

You know, enough of trying to explain Kobe to Kobe haters.

I've always said that I use the bashing of Kobe Bryant as the measuring stick for people who really do not a full comprhension of hoops.

Go Kobe! Let us all hope you end up in Chi-Town!

I don't care who else has to go, Paul Pierce coupled with KG and any other seven NBA players are in the Eastern Conference Finals next season if not the NBA Finals.

The only team that could stop them would be the Heat if they manage to sign Rashard Lewis and Shaq went on a diet for once in his life, or the Bulls if they land Bryant.

Greg Ostertag, Eric Montross,  Bryant "Big Country" Reeves, Spence_ Hawe_

2008 Rokie of the Year....Al Horford...is anyone in Atlanta listening? Probably not. Probably never.

Phoenix must do something because that team is obviously waiting for the Spurs to get old and unfortunately for the Suns, Steve Nash already has about six or seven years on Tony Parker.

So the most obvious move is to trade Shawn Marion, but to whom?

 I say trade him to Seattle for Ray Allen.

Then I can watch Kobe torch both Raja Bell and Ray Allen in the regular season and the playoffs. Of course while trading for Allen sounds good on paper, Ray Allen is like Chris Webber, both players who gurantee that you team will not make the finals on karma alone.

Ron Artest is due to punch someone in the face anyday now...maybe a nun, but at least that will land him in a Knicks Jersey.

Unfortunately that would mean the Knicks are probably going to send David Lee and Stephon Marbury to Sacremento and take on Artest,  Mike Bibby (aka poor man;'s Marbury) and Shareef Abdur Rahim (aka poor man's ummm, poor man's ummm...okay just poor man)

The Bobcats would be extremely lucky if Yakim Noah fell to #8.

As soon as I heard about Tim Hardaway's comments about gay people, I immediatly knew that brother was in for hell in a handbasket. While we do have the right to free speech in the U.S., this is a country that is bricked and mortored on concepts of tolerance and freedom for all people. Timmy Crossover's position as a public figure requires even more diplomacy than the regular Joe Smoe on the street. I'm sure that if TH had taken three breaths before speaking he might have thought more wisely about what he said.

All that being said, I think TH was firing the first shot of the counterattack.

The counterattack that says it is insane and unproductive to the moral fabric of our society to glorify any individual who is tabbed a "hero" for deciding to publish a book that essentially is a self absorbed tribute to their sexual preferences.

Since when did "coming out" make you a hero?

Obviously it doesn't take much to be a hero nowadays.

So what John Amechi is gay? I personally wouldn't care if he held tea-parties with blow up dolls dressed as Margaret Thatcher. What a person does in the privacy of their own bedroom is not my concern. I don't think it's TH concern either. But like TH, I get sick and tired of this concept that the homosexual community has some sort of shared suffering with minorities in this nation.

I am in favor of hate crime laws that punish people for abusing anyone because of race, age, religion and even sexual preference.

What I am sick and tired of is hearing the homosexual community continue to pander for the sympathies of the public like they were being burned at the stake in old world Salem Mass.

The debate over whether or not an individual can be born gay will probably go on forever. So what, people are born without limbs, born with mental retardation, born deaf and  born blind.

When was the last time you heard of a person with Down's Syndrome being touted as a hero in the media? Which is a shame because people who have to overcome lifelong physical disabilities would have much more inspiring books for us to read, and for the media to blast all over front pages.

But no, an able bodied former millionaire (soon to be a millionaire again) gets touted as a martyr because he decides that being gay amongst his friends and family wasn't enough. Amechi felt compelled to write a book about it and then to compund the hypocrisy, appear on every network posible to tell his story.

Amechi's story is not at all unique. Millions of gay people live their lives the same way, cross dressers, B & B enthusiasts, swingers and heterosexuals live their sexual lives...in private.

I now know this for a certainty, TH would not be the best person to negotiate a peace deal. His lack of diplomacy and rational thinking has been recognized now by everyone.

Even more importantly, the world has started looking for heroes in all the wrong places.

This past weekend Zab Judah lost a fight that he figured he would win easily. He also lost a few millions dollars along the way...or did he?

I can't hold it in.

Greed lost Jab Judah his mandatory WBC title defense this past Saturday night in Madison Square Garden. No, I do not believe for one minute that Judah tanked the fight, not at all. Before the challenger Carlos Baldomir caught him in the seventh round with a straight right in his forehead, Judah already looked like a man who had underestimated his opponents punching strength, and I told my cousin, who was watching the fight with me, as early as the second round that I didn't like the look in Judah's eyes.

Still, as the fight wore on Judah was indeed in control, and then the sixth round came up,and after it was over, Judah and his "daddy cornerman" had spilled the beans all over Showtime, and I bet most of you missed it.

Judah was clearly at ease blocking most of Baldomir's shots early in the fight. Baldomir's camp proclaimed that the challenger had not seen his wife and kids in five months to prepare for this fight, and it looked like it. Baldomir was definately agressive and undaunted  by Judah's evasiveness and continued to come forward and throw hard punshes, many of which Judah blocked, but some of which eventually caused Judah to be a little more deliberate coming in, and certainly more flatfooted.

You had to figure that after watching Corey Spinks try to do a Roy Jones and rap his way into the ring aginst Judah only to get knocked out in front of his home fans would've been enough to make Zab Judah appreciate focus. Instead he came into the ring wearing a billboard on his back for what I think was Golden Palace dot com.

It was the billboard that made Judah end up looking as ridiculous, if not more than Spinks did.

After the six round, as judah was heading to his corner, the fans in the Garden began booing, mostly due to the lackluster performance being given by Judah up until that point, even though the champ had made it clear to Jim Lampley before the fight that a knockout was neccessary for the hometown. Clearly bothered by the booing, Judah could be overheard saying to his father, I'm ready, I'm ready. His father responded three times by saying What?, What'd you say?

Now if I could understand him in my living room in North Carolina, I'm sure that his daddy heard him standing only two feet away, yet his father kept trying to blow Zab off, like he didn't want theShowtime cameras to hear him respond. When Judah stood up to go out for the second round, his father could be seen muttering something to him, out of the audio range of Showtime, and whatever he said made Zab shrugg, smile, and calm down.

Judah went out for the seventh round and things were par the course until Baldomir crashed his noggin with one of those Ihaven't had sex in five months rights that he had been throwing all night.

So what happened?

Conspiracy  theory #1

Whoever was paying Judah to be a billboard for the fight, was paying him by the round, a deal that without question was orchestrated by Don King, who was the promoter for the fight, as well as Judah. When Judah heard his home fans booing him, he felt slighted and wanted to show everybody that he could knock Baldomir out, which, until he almost got knocked out himself, looked like a possibility. Zab tried to tell his pops that he was ready to finish it, and his dad, keeping his own, and Don King's, best interest in mind, convinced Judah to carry Baldomir for a little longer. say like maybe the tenth round. In trying to do so, Judah got caught with a right hand, that had been waiting five months to hit somebody, and the forehead that happened to be there, probably three rounds longer than it should have, belonged to Judah.

Conspiracy theory #2

I'm wrong

They say it takes one to know one. Well i've done slight of hand in my life to know a fast one being pulled when I see it. Judah was evading Baldomir a little too much early on, it was obvious that he didn't intend to dispose of him early, when he clearly had superior hand speed, punching power, and footwork. Baldomir was holding early in the fight because he couldn't get a bead on Judah's head, yet.

The first word's out of Judah's mouth after the fight were "I have a f***ed up promoter, my promoter is f***ed up!", and his promoter, Don King was standing four feet behind him (and never said a word). Judah later tried to say that what he meant was that he had been forced to do too many public appearances and did not have time to adequately train for the fight. Yeah right...Baldomir said after the win, "Oh he was ready, he just wasn't ready for that right hand".

Judah's father kept trying to claim that his son should've won on the scorecards (more smoke and mirrors), when it was clear that Judah had lost every round after the sixth. Judah'd father even offered this gem. "He may have won like six rounds, but that's it!"

It was a twelve round fight...do the math

Boxing is not a sport that allows anything other than fiery aggression, or master skill to prevail in the ring. You cannot take the risk of fighting passively, because there is always a phantom punch out there waiting to knock you into the next millenium. One good punch is all it takes, and for most of the fight, Judah was ducking and dodging that one good punch, Lord knows Baldomir was throwing them.

I believe that Judah could've knocked Baldomir out, and Baldomir belived it as well, which is why he and his handlers immediately declared that there would be no rematch. That's how sure Don King, and Daddy Judah were of a Zab victory, there was no rematch clause, and for that matter nobody in Vegas was even taking bets on the fight.

Now the big payday that was coming for an eventual fight with Floyd Mayweather Jr. is scrapped for now.

Did Zab Judah get what he deserved? No.

But Carlos Baldomir did, and so did Don King.

Renown author Leo Tolstoy once wrote:

Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.

So while most families are sharing the similar experiences of getting through the holiday season with their finances and health intact, the VanGundy family is in the unique position of having two brothers at the X-mas dinner who have been fired from the NBA in the same season. I guess technically Stan VanGundy, who was the coach of the Miami Heat until last week, officially resigned. HIs brother Jeff, who is still the coach of the Houston Rockets will most certainly go out with a press conference telling us how bad of a coach he is. Jeff will probably make it through Christmas with his job. Tracy McGrady, Jeff's star player and only hope to win a game, ever, will go beserk for a few games, and average about thirty five points for a six or seven game stretch. As soon as teams realize that Lonny Baxter going to be the Rockets go-to-man in the paint they will start to quadruple team T-Mac and the Rockets will struggle to score 50 points a game.

Injuries really have been the primary cause for the lackluster play of the Rockets, a team that many people felt would contend for the Weststern Conference crown. Starting center Yao Ming is out for several weeks with a toe injury and backup center Dikembe Mutombo is injured as well. Juwan Howard has had his own share of bumps and bruises this season and Stromile Swift, who can jump out of the gym, does not have the back to the basket moves to be a low post prescence. So Jeff will watch as T-Mac shoots thirty five times per night and tries to single handedly outscore opposing teams, which will of course cause McGrady to re-injure his back, which of course will cause the Rockets to lose more games, which in turn will cause Jeff Van Gundy  to..ahem step down as the Rockets head coach. 

Maybe that's the family time that Stan said he needed, time to convince his brother that he really is a great NBA head coach, at least if you have Patrick Ewing playing center, instead of coaching from the bench. All in all the two Van Gundy brothers made out like bandits. Neither Hoston nor Miami were going, or are going to win an NBA title this season, and probably not next season either. San Antonio is still a lock, if healthy, and Phoenix looks as if they are trying to seperate themselves from the pack as well especially after Stoudamire returns. Houston is the bizarro Dallas Mavericks, all defense, one scorer (McGrady) while Dallas is all offense, one defender (okay no defenders).

Miami, well, that house of madness still has many acts to play out that will surely have them imploding long before they approach the conference finals. I'm still waiting for Gary Payton to stab Jason Williams in the locker room, or for Shaq to punch Antione Waler during a game. I'm serious with the personnel on that roster and Riley coaching them, that timebomb is just ticking away.

The Van Gundys should be happy they won't be around to look into television cameras with a straight face and say things like... Antione Walker has found his way in our offense...I think next season he should really be able to make some buckets in the fourth quarter, or maybe... we're bringing in Ron Artest to help toughen up Yao in the off season, Yao is gonna be hanging in out in Queensbridge projects working on his new rap CD.

After sitting out the Duncan dynasty for a couple of seasons, and hanging out with Ernie, Kenny, and Chuck on TNT, Jeff and Stan could go coach St Johns, and Georgetown, respectively and then they could pick their own players, run their own plays, and finally have someone in the locker room that they can control during a game.

Inevitably, both men will return to an NBA bench, but in order for the Van Gundy brothers to make a triumphant return, they must first be dispatched to the unemployment commision. One down, one to go.