It's the time of the year when the MLB and NASCAR playoffs are happening, the NFL season is in full swing, the NHL regular season has just begun, and the NBA season is getting ready to make its presence felt. There are but 27 days until the 2007-08 season begins, yet for the moment, all we can do is project. Heck, the Miami Heat began training camp this morning at midnight. I guess that's better than guys coming to work the next morning with alcohol breath from a final night on "So Be," huh?

So, in line with others readying themselves, I'm going to begin checking in with NBA news and regular season projections. In the spirit of CBS Sports.com's Tony Mejia I'm starting the coverage off with the "TSF Top Fiddy NBA Players." Like Mejia's top fifty, these Top Fiddy are based on projected performance for the upcoming season.

1. Tim Duncan, San Antonio: Tim is the man because he actively impacts both ends of the court. He's as clutch as any player ever to play the game, including my number two guy, plus he's a team leader that everyone who pulls on a Spurs jersey follows.  On a night in and night out basis, Duncan is as proficient on the offensive end of the floor as a shark is  in a feeding frenzy. Defensively he can alternately clog the middle and play  extraordinary man-to-man defense. Though he is not known as a leaper Duncan is a  better than average shot blocker. As a  rebounder, Duncan  positions himself for boards as well as any big man in the NBA. His only flaw is that he can be a bit snarky at times - just ask referee Joe Crawford.  But overall, at least for now, Tim must get the nod as the Lig's best  player.

2. Kobe Bryant, L.A. Lakers: In the World Championships, Bryant showed up slimmer but more muscular than ever, which is a bad omen for the rest of the Lig. He also showed that, with proficient players around him Bryant is the best basketball player in the world. The problem is, no Lakers player is as proficient as those he played with this summer. At the same time, if Kobe's knees are in good enough shape to go hard on both ends of the floor, he could well end up the numero uno baller by season's end. He'll have to do a couple of other things, to receive this honor: one, become a better leader off the court, which means keeping critiques of teammates out of shopping mall parking lots and off radio shows and two, do everything in his power to make his teammates better players. I know Bryant can't make somebody get in the gym and take 100 extra shots every day, or bulk up, or stay out of strip clubs the night before a road game, but he can be a facilitator on the court. This means he must know as well as a point guard where his teammates like to get the ball to get their shots off. Early in the season he needs to show trust in them and allow them to take open shots in key moments so that later when the playoff run is on, Kobe isn't forced to play one-on-five on a given night.  Should he succeed, his Lakers will make a deep playoff run and Kobe Bean Bryant will win his first Most Valuable Player award.

3. Dwyane Wade, Miami: D-Wade, when healthy, balls hard all the time. He makes his teammates better because he's unafraid to drive and kick and equally unafraid to let teammates shine if they're hot. Wade plays both on-ball defense and passing lanes as well as anyone except Kobe (when Bryant is motivated or healthy). He also is adept at sneaking down on the block and playing help-side "D" as well. Wade doesn't mind rebounding and leading the fast break and will do all the little things, including leading the Heat in floor burns it takes to win. Talented, smart, tough, and gritty, D-Wade is not a Kobe "Lite" because he's too talented. He's more like a Kobe "Bock," darker and damn tasty on a chilly night in the Miami winter.

4. LeBron James, Cleveland: Sure anyone can make the case that Bron Bron should be number three ------ but. James has never been confused with Kobe or Wade as a defender; he takes too many poor shots, and still misses too many free throws in key moments. Additionally, from watching James in the World 'chips it was apparent that he hadn't yet worked to correct the flaws in his jumper. He still tends to drift when shooting and his release point is not always from the same spot. But he's LeBron James, which means he's more natively talented than any player in the NBA.

5. Kevin Garnett, Boston: Until Flip Saunders moved on to man the bench in Detroit, no one realized how mediocre a coach he is. Meanwhile, pretty much everybody blamed KG for the Timberwolves' woes. Now, people are also realizing just how bad the Minnesota teams Garnett played on were - and that includes the Western Conference Final squad with Latrell Sprewell and Sam Cassell. Garnett is a double-double monster; he and Duncan are the best. Watch this man play this season with Paul "The Truth" and Ray "Jesus Shuttlesworth" Allen. Garnett might have lesser numbers this season, but be fresher as the season wears on. He might well be the most dangerous player in the Eastern Conference come playoff time - and perhaps in the entire league. If Boston can dig up a proficient veteran point guard to pair with Rajon Rondo, Garnett might just walk away with MVP number two.

6. Yao Ming, Houston: That's right, I said it, Yao at number six. If he avoids oddball injuries he is the Lig's dominant center (Duncan is a power forward). He's become attuned enough to the NBA game to get angry and elevate his game when the opposition attempts to intimidate him with hard fouls. He clogs up the lane unlike player not named Shaquille O'Neal and has become a double-double master. Oh, and he's learned to effectively pass out of the double-team to the point where it's to the opposition's disadvantage to do so. With his touch around the basket and his 12-15-foot range on his jumper, Yao is set up for a  wonderful 2007-08.

7. Jason Kidd, New Jersey: The 21st century triple-double man is so good, so savvy, that age has no effect on the 34-year old point guard. Though his jumper will always be his Achilles heel, no player in the NBA other than Kidd can change the balance of a game without scoring a point. He is the consummate floor leader on the offensive end and plays good enough defense to hold his own every night.

8. Steve Nash, Phoenix: Little Stevie Fingertips is in the perfect system for his skills to shine. He's ranked beneath Kidd because for Nash to be at his most effective he must put the ball in the basket. However, his vision in the open court is unparalleled, his jumper is clutch and butter at the same time, and he's a magician with the ball when he drives the lane. No, he can't play defense, but on the Suns, outside of Raja Bell, who can?

9. Paul Pierce, Boston: The Truth is just that. The man can be damn near unstoppable when he gets in the flow of a game. He can, at will, post up a defender, or take him off the dribble, or shoot jumpers in his face. When motivated, Pierce is one of the NBA's better on-ball small forward defenders. This season, with the addition of Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen to the Celtics roster, Pierce will be freer than at any point in his career to exploit defenses. The NBA could be Paul's playground this year. And with Garnett, Boston now has two legitimate MVP candidates.

10. Dirk Nowitzki, Dallas: Dirk added some defense to his game last season and showed that that he can longer be called "Irk." He led the Mavericks to the Lig's best regular season record, but wilted in the playoffs. The Dallas unseemly first round exit to the golden State Warriors highlighted Nowitzki's deficiencies. That deflating loss to the Warriors showed Nowitzki exactly what he needs to add to his game; a low post game. This year, look for the big German to add low block moves to his already lethal offensive arsenal so he can better take advantage of smaller defenders. Regardless of last season's failures and the shortcomings in his game that were exposed by the smaller, quicker Warriors, expect Nowitzki to have gone back to his German woodshed to enhance his already dangerous game. Nowitzki quietly developed into an adequate rebounder for a player who haunts the perimeter and was an underrated passing lane defender, which is two notches up from the Nowitzki of old.

Etan Thomas has heart - problems; Isiah must pay; C-Webb stays stateside; Whisenhunt's quandary; Bad Newz dogs not so bad after all

----------------------

Etan Thomas' irregular heartbeat

During a routine physical Washington Wizards center Etan Thomas was found to have an irregular heartbeat:

Veteran Washington Wizards center Etan Thomas did not participate when training camp opened Tuesday after a recent cardiac test revealed an irregularity that could potentially be career-threatening.

Thomas, who was slated to compete with Brendan Haywood for the starting center job, learned of the test results late last week following a routine physical, according to Ernie Grunfeld, the team's president. Thomas remained in Washington on Tuesday awaiting the results of further tests.

Wizards head coach Eddie Jordan indicated that he did not expect Thomas to return to the Wizards before training camp breaks.

Isiah must pay - for the moment

New York Knicks head coach Isiah Thomas was found guilty of sexual harassment by a jury and must pay $11.6 million in punitive damages:

A jury decided Tuesday that New York Knicks coach Isiah Thomas sexually harassed a former top team executive, subjecting her to unwanted advances and a barrage of verbal insults, but also said he does not have to pay punitive damages.

After an ugly, three-week trial, the verdict gives Thomas a partial victory in the $10 million lawsuit filed by Anucha Browne Sanders.

The jury did find that Madison Square Garden committed harassment against the woman, and decided that she is entitled to punitive damages from MSG.

U.S. District Judge Gerard E. Lynch called it an "eminently reasonable" verdict and said the jury will be asked to return later Tuesday to hear brief arguments on punitive damages.

The Knicks and Thomas feel differently about the court outcome:

"I'm innocent, very innocent, and I did not do the things she has accused me in this courtroom of doing," Thomas said. "I'm extremely disappointed that the jury did not see the facts in this case. I will appeal this, and I remain confident in the man that I am and what I stand for and the family that I have."

Madison Square Garden also said it would appeal.

C-Webb chooses the States

Hoopsworld Toronto Raptors writer Ryan McNeill scooped me to this news tidbit Saturday. Then we discussed it during our NBA podcast. The news?

Chris Webber to Greece to play Euro League ball for Olympiakos and make $10-12 in the process.

Well C-Webb turned the dollars down:

"I'm not going to Greece," Webber said. "It's no disrespect to [Olympiakos], but I can't do that. I'm an NBA guy. I don't want to just chase money. I want to make sure I respect the game.

"To tell you the truth, it's kind of stupid in a way to turn down stupid money, as my dad would call it, but I can't just do it for the money. If I'm going to play, I'm only going to play as a Piston ... unless something crazy happens."

Hmmmm. During the podcast with Ry I felt that if any NBA player would take the, 'this sets my family up for life' dollars it would be Webber. I also felt that of anyone - outside of Kobe Bryant - in the NBA would be able to handle Europe emotionally it would be C-Webb. I felt that he might take his family with him and have a two-year sabbatical from U.S. life and enjoy Europe.

Webber has a history of making vain attempts to flip the system on its ear. He was the leader of the Fab Five - choosing Michigan with four other players rather than allow schools to recruit them - which was a conscious choice that signaled to the world, 'there's a new, more aware black athlete coming down the highway.' So, I thought that Webber would set precedent for other players and help them to realize that, because they are the product that makes sports, they can control the system that is professional sports. I thought he'd"go global." But no.

I forgot that, of all the Fab Five, Webber especially valued playing on television and taking money under the table more than making a statement by playing for an HBCU (Historically Black College and University). So, of course, when faced with a final choice that would define him as a person and an athlete, he chose to stay stateside.

Whisenhunt's quandary

Though they've won consecutive games, the Arizona Cardinals might be headed for turmoil. In a move more suited to Bobby Bowden than to any NFL head coach, Cardinals head coach Ken Whisenhunt is playing shuttling quarterbacks with Matt Leinart and Kurt Warner. Warner looked great against the Steelers - after Troy Polomalu left the game with a back injury. Yahoo Sports' Michael Silver details Leinart's feeling about the situation (oh, and notice how nicely Silver treats missing in action father, Leinart):

Having given way to backup Kurt Warner for much of the Cards' 21-14 upset of the previously undefeated Pittsburgh Steelers, Leinart's day had been filled with bitterness, frustration and prideful defiance. Now, as he finished his meal at City Hall steakhouse, there was only detached bewilderment.

"I just want them to ride or die with me," Leinart said softly of 2-2 Arizona. "If I'm the franchise quarterback, play me and let me stumble, because I'll fight through it, and that will help me and our team in the long run. I know coaches want to win now, and I guess they have their reasons. But I don't understand it, and this switching back and forth is almost worse than getting benched."

This is going to come to a head at some point this season. It might be used as the reason the Cardinals don't make the playoffs - again - or, if 'Zona stays in the playoff hunt, the players will demand that either Leinart or Warner lead them. Either way, Whisenhunt can't play go and win this battle with the players, especially when you have the guy you used to coach floating around dropping bombs behind your back:

"The whole thing is weird," says Roethlisberger, who admittedly is not a fan of Whisenhunt, his former offensive coordinator. "He sits Matt all that time, then puts him back in and has him throwing deep? It's just weird. I don't see how it can work. But that's just me."

(addendum: Silver, a longtime sports journalist, was called a "blogger" on "Jim Rome's Rome is Burning" show yesterday.)

Bad Newz dogs not so bad, after all

All but one of the dogs that John Goodwin and the Humane Society (HSUS) wanted killed have been found to be - in time - fit to be placed with families:

All but one of the dogs seized in the Michael Vick dog fighting case will be placed with families or put in a "sanctuary," where they will interact with people to overcome their fear and lack of socialization, according to court order filed Monday.

One of the 49 seized dogs "has a history biting humans" and will be euthanized, according to a motion filed in Virginia in U.S. District Court.

U.S. Attorney Chuck Rosenberg said the dog - identified as number 2621 - "exhibited intense aggression to humans to the point where the evaluation could not safely be completed."

The recommendation came more than a month after the court ordered the dogs evaluated by U.S. Department of Agriculture contractors.

How interesting. The public was led to believe that all of these dogs showed signs of dog fighting and were otherwise useless. Despite reporting on May 24 that the dogs were mostly in fine condition, I was told there was no truth to this; that all the dogs showed signs of dog fighting injuries. Now we find that the report was correct all the time.

What else is a lie?

The proof is in the details.The proof of racism in sports media is not in something like the fact of Michael Vick's guilt. Once the evidence came forth, we understand Vick's culpability in the dog fighting that took place on the grounds of the home in Surry County, Virginia. The proof of racism is in the manner in which the Vick case was reported. The proof is in the omission of details, the half-truths, and the lies in reporting the incident.

We watched as no member of mainstream or of Big Box sports media questioned how the Vick dog fighting case was assembled. No one ever questioned how the Davon Boddie marijuana bust turned into investigators walking onto Boddie's property and talking with someone other than a person who lives in the house; a someone who took investigators to a kennel full of pitbulls because the investigator "heard dogs barking." Yes, I said Boddie's property. Vick bought the property and oversaw the building of the home and the kennel (which we now know was not initially built for dog fighting dogs), but Boddie paid the bills and the property taxes. We know that Vick gave this property to Boddie in lieu of handing him a "just because" check every month, or so.

So, how did no reporter dig this information up before the seven to ten days? A journalist or some journalists. Some journalists knew that something was awry when police investigators turned what was a street bust into a home and property search. Some journalists had to know that something smelled funny about this.

Yet instead of doing the work, journalists saw Michael Vick, first black quarterback ever to be drafted number one overall, and ran with the thoughts of five minutes of fame dancing in their heads. Sensationalism and an easy target overtook journalistic responsibility.

To justify this greedy want, reporters everywhere, but especially in Atlanta and at ESPN, sought to establish themselves as the end-all purveyors of Vick news while cozying up to new NFL czar, Roger Goodell.

The initial news was benign, but Terrence Moore of the Atlanta Constitution-Journal went out of his way to paint a black picture of Vick. Moore repeatedly trotted out Vick flipping off fans - erroneously reporting that they were Atlanta fans. He harped on the "Ron Mexico" pseudonym used by Vick to find out if he did or did not have STDs. That is news for Internet sloth - football-specific sloth and otherwise; you know who they are - and the National Enquirer, not for a reputable newspaper of one of the largest cities in the U.S. Moore told bald-faced lies about the water bottle Vick refused to give up at Miami International Airport. The same bottle that when Vick said jewelry was in its secret compartment, was suddenly no longer discussed. Vick's failure to appear in front of Congress was a sign that he was nothing more than a thug.

As evidence for Vick's thugishness, Moore painted his cornrows, his posse, his nightlife, photos of Vick with a Black and Tan cigar that Moore swore was a joint. He howled to the moon in his column and implied that Vick should be run from the city or stoned; whichever came first.

ESPN rushed in to one up Moore and sent Kelly Naqi to set up camp outside Vick's home. Meanwhile the Worldwide Leader used a cadre of reporters to dress the investigation in the clothes of their choosing. When ESPN's Chris Mortensen reported that team officials from the Atlanta Falcons and officials from the NFL league office both were told that no indictment of Vick was forthcoming, ESPN and Moore fell into mourning. Their nine-day silence - until the federal government surprised everyone with indictments - was palpable. Only the Internet sloth, whose very lives appeared to be tied to Vick's guilt, continued the drumbeat for further investigations into the Vick matter.

In those days Moore, ESPN, and the Internet sloth shifted gears and draped a dark gown of impropriety over the head of black prosecuting attorney of Surry County, Gerald Poindexter. They intimated that Poindexter was trying to let Vick off the hook because of shared skin color. They implied that Vick paid off not only Poindexter, but federal agents, as well. However, Poindexter repeated constantly that he had been burned by similar loose warrant language and that as soon as the language was cleared up, he would resume his investigation of the case.

ESPN wasn't listening. They had their hooks in two black men now and they weren't about to let them go until they tore them to shreds. They aired Vick specials, they put Jeremy Schaap on Outside the Lines to damn Vick in ways Bob Let would never dare. You see the results; what they did to sway public opinion of Vick before the feds had evidence. And to this day they continue to excoriate Poindexter. The latest charges in the hell-hounding of Poindexter are that he has failed to prosecute the case strongly enough; that the charges are less serious than they should be.

Lapdog Moore, who appeared on various ESPN news shows panting with excitement in his ability to play the black white journalist, currently wags his tail in agreement with ESPN's Poindexter stance.

Look at the coverage of Barry Bonds, which has been well-chronicled here at TSF. Not only did Mark Fainaru-Wada and Lance Williams allow the idea of a Pulitzer Prize to stain their thoughts, it tainted their integrity. And this extends especially to Tim Kawakami of the San Jose Mercury-News and any other reporter black or white with an ax to grind over Bonds. Again, though, the racism inherent in their reporting isn't in the shoddiness of their allegedly extensively detailed writings, it is in the manner in which they wrote, in what they chose to emphasize.

It is important to understand the racial undertone involved in placing an inordinate emphasis on Bonds' preoccupation with Mark McGwire. It is the story of the black man jealous of the white man's accomplishments and flying into an over-emotional rage and becoming unnecessarily consumed with the white man.

I have since heard from a very reputable source that Bonds did rant about McGwire at a bar-b-que at the home of Ken Griffey, Jr. However, to use a rant as the nexus of Bonds' alleged steroid and HGH use is a questionable leap of faith. Yet it was reported and taken as gospel truth because the general white public is so inattentive to its own racist tendencies that no one would dare attempt to punch holes in such a shoddy argument.

Think of how the white mistress, Kimberly Bell, was and is at opportune moments, shoved down our throats. Bonds confided, not in his wife, but in a white woman with whom he was allegedly having an affair. Bonds told Bell about his elbow injury and the need to use performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs) to quickly recover from his surgery.

The problem with this white woman as deified to the black man fairy tale is that Bonds was separated from his wife at the time he was seeing Bell, so there was no affair, no mistress. It was a relationship between a man and a woman - period. And unlike the Isiah Thomas sexual harassment case where the black woman's -Anucha Browne Sanders - word has been challenged as much as Thomas' word, the word of the white and fair belle, Bell, goes unquestioned.

Notice the difference between Vick and Bonds coverage with that of St. Louis outfielder, Rick Ankiel. Now, before anyone says Vick and Bonds are more popular therefore blah, blah. blah, let's get something straight: Rick Ankiel was the panacea for all Bonds talk, all the Vick talk, all the black athlete gets busted for marijuana talk. Make no mistake; Rick Ankiel was the feel-good sports story of 2007.

And before we get into Ankiel, let me expound on the black athlete gets busted trick for just a moment. First, one name, Bill Maas. Whatever the hell happened to the sordid story of Bill Maas? Popular or not, as an ex-athlete who apparently had the broadcasting world by the tail, Maas makes very good copy. I never saw the mug shots of Maas and his female road trippin', drug-doin' cohort splashed on the homepage of ESPN.com or any of the blog sloth's homepages. Where are the ESPN.com Page 2 commentaries about Maas in a larger context, that context that everyone is susceptible, not just athletes - everyone. Where are all those writer who seek to find the out of the way angle, those important writers of great worth to us all who are bastions of the NFL press, like Peter King? They are completely and uniformly silent on the Maas issue - and believe me, I've been waiting.

As far as the black athlete gets busted for pot issue, doesn't it strike anyone odd that so many of these athletes get pulled over for failing to use a signal to change lanes or exit a highway or turn a corner: 'damn nigras, why do we let 'em drive?' Has one sports journalist ever stretched beyond the boundaries of the game to report the irrepressible fact that a marijuana smoker is arrested in America every 38 seconds? Thirty-eight seconds?! No one has reported that in 2006 that 829,635 persons were arrested with marijuana and put that into perspective when it comes to athletes - especially black athletes? Of these people, 738, 915 or 89% were arrested for possession of pot. This represents a 188% increase in arrests over the last 15 years costing taxpayers 10 to 12 billion dollars annually. It is little wonder, then that so many athletes make their way to the police blotter with a marijuana charge hanging around their necks.

Once again, our sports media has failed us when it comes to matters of race and sports.

Now, back to Ankiel. After he was named in the Signature Pharmacy scandal, the Mighty Wurlitzer, that is the national sports media, immediately churned out story after story excusing Ankiel for receiving a 12-month supply of HGH from the Pharmacy. They wrote that we should honor the "sacred" doctor-client privilege involved in the Ankiel case. Yet they failed and continue to fail to mention that Ankiel's "doctor" was an Internet physician who Ankiel did not visit in person. They failed and fail to note that no legitimate doctor would prescribe a 12-month supply of HGH to a patient and have a pharmacy ship the HGH to the patient so that the person could self-administer the drug.

They wrote that we have no solid proof that Ankiel even injected the HGH he received from Signature. Are you serious? Are you really serious?! Then where is the press conference with Ankiel breaking out his box of ampules showing the world that he, in fact, did not use HGH.

They wrote that the drug was not on the MLB banned drug list at the time he used HGH. Well then the same holds true for Barry Bonds, but no sports journalist ever reported that fact. The sporting press lamented the fact that Ankiel felt pressured to return to the majors and all-but lauded him for trying everything in his power to recover from an injury and finalize the switch from pitcher to outfielder. Hell, sports journalists found physicians who were and are willing to say, in relation to Ankiel, that HGH has no benefits that would help a baseball player.

Huh?!

No one ever mentioned that about Bonds. No one mentioned in glowing terms that Bonds was trying to return to his former self from elbow surgery and that he was trying to cope with arthritic knees. No one lamented that he felt the need to succumb to - in this day and age of over-hyped sports coverage - the use of PEDs to try to break Henry Aaron's home run record. No no no. As we all know Bonds was and is reviled for anything he might have done, though we have absolutely no proof that he injected or rubbed anything illegal on his body.

And where is the black press throughout this black athlete head hunting expedition, this safari through the plains and the cities of America to hang a black trophy head on the walls of sports desks everywhere?

They are pretty much nowhere to be found. Sure they trot themselves out for the Jena 6 - cookie time! Sure a few of them say enough is enough with Bonds, though they still believe that his head and feet grew because he was a wild HGH-steroid user who shot everything from the clear to cattle 'roids. If you believe what the black and white sports journalists say, Lyle Alzado had nothing on Bonds. Bonds, all because of Mark McGwire, went legendary jungle nigra crazy on the PEDs. If you believe all these scribes and their tall tales of PED abuse, Bonds might have about five years to live before his head explodes.

So, why aren't black reporters pounding down the doors of editor's offices - editors white and black - and demanding to have their voices heard?

Black reporters are subject to the same racist treatment as black athletes. They are watched, hand-picked and often removed from their communities by opportunistic editors. They are befriended by veteran white journalists and deprogrammed and remodeled as whiter black people. These reporters are sometimes handed high-paying, influential columnist jobs before they are ready, writing or experience-wise. They soon find that, implicit in maintaining their position is the knowledge that they are not to rock the boat or make waves by writing anything that challenges the established status quo.

After being thoroughly "systemized" these black journalists, like their athlete compatriots, know their place, no matter what they might try to say. At first, they make a conscious effort to not overstep their boundaries and it shows in their writing. In a few years, though, their master's wishes are ingrained in them, and their words become seamlessly meshed with their editor's wishes and compliance becomes their message. And they too, do the knee-jerk, reactionary, the black athlete is at fault thing. Sometimes, they'll jump on the boat before their masters, just ask Jason Whitlock.

Can all this change? Of course it can. Awareness and the ability to be unrelenting in seeking and reporting the heart of all sporting matters are the keys to maintaining a sense of self; that, and a sense of community, no matter how small or large.

However, less than a handful of black mainstream and Big Box writers accomplish this. We see them, read them. Many white readers despise them because they refuse to tow the line, unless it is the truth; and even then their reporting of a given event will reveal something entirely different than their peers. The majority of black writers though, will go along with the flow, smiling and dancing all the way to Mantan and Sleep 'n Eat purgatory, as they are never quite dead, but their words show they have certainly left life behind.

With their black peers along for the ride white writers are never forced to step out of their existences and truly see anything other than what is comfortable for them. The sporting world keeps spinning; black athletes keep losing while the media keeps winning.

Don't believe me. Take some time. Take a tour for a week or so and read for yourself. As receivers of this hegemonous message, you owe it to yourself to look around and truly decide if this is what you want your world to look like.

But whatever you do, do look. The proof is in the details.

addendum: A Memphis football player, Taylor Bradford, was shot and killed last night. Clay Bailey and Alex McPeak in their Memphis Commercial-Appeal article indicate that:

Memphis police have not established a motive and have no suspects in custody.

However, the Associated Press-ESPN News Services article say something entirely different about the shooting:

A University of Memphis football player was fatally shot on campus in a targeted attack and classes were canceled Monday as a precaution, officials said....

In an e-mail alert sent to faculty, staff and students at 3:40 a.m. Monday, officials wrote that "the initial investigation indicates this was an act directed specifically toward the victim and was not a random act of violence."

The university decided to cancel classes Monday, although police believe the person or persons involved in the shooting left the campus immediately.

"We feel like the campus is safe, but we'd rather err on the safety than not," [university spokesman Curt] Gunther said.

Is the AP in the business of providing "safety messages" for universities or is their article another indicator of how incidents are twisted to fit the image of people of color?

The dumbest coaching move is this: you're trying to protect a lead, time running out in the game, and it's 3rd down. Your opponent has two time outs left. Rather than allow the quarterback to snap the ball with two seconds left on the clock and take more time off the clock, you let the play clock run down to one second and use a timeout. You, coach have saved your opponent five seconds. Arizona Cardinals head coach Ken Whisenhunt was the latest team leader to commit this blunder. Fortunately for Whisenhunt, Pittsburgh Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger threw an interception allowing the Cardinals to seal a 21-14 win over Pittsburgh.

One day, though, this move will cost a coach and a team a win.

Onward with an assessment of NFL teams after the first of a four quarter season....

How'd that QB change work for ya, Lovie Smith? Brian Griese goes 34-52, 286 with 2 TDs. It's too bad Griese also tossed three picks, two in the red zone which effectively blew the game for Chicago. I wonder if Rex Grossman thought at some point during the game, "Damn I could have done this." Detroit 37, Chicago 27.

Marty Schottemheimer is sitting somewhere laughing his head off. While Michael Smith made excuses for the San Diego Chargers, saying they lost to a division rival - Kansas City - that handed them one of their losses last year and isn't as bad as they look and blah blah blah, and I don't want to tell the truth because I might alienate my sources on either team, I'll tell you the truth.

The Chargers are a very undisciplined and fractured football team that believed the preseason hype and all the accolades they received from last season. Though no professional athlete handles losses well, LaDanian Tomlinson is showing that he's not even publicly the gracious guy everyone makes him out to be. Tomlinson showed as much after the playoff loss to New England that ended San Diego's season last year. This season after each of the Chargers' three losses, LaDanian looks like he's on the verge of snapping. Dude, get a grip on yourself and put on a good face for the cameras. Then walk into Norv Turner's office and demand that the team gets back to what it did last season, which was getting you the damn ball.

St. Louis is officially a horrible team. They started out okay against the Dallas Cowboys but just completely rolled over as the game wore on. Rams defense? Ack! No Stephen Jackson? Ack! Offensive line? Ack! The Rams will be lucky to win five games this season.

Carolina Panthers head coach John Fox is a few more crappy team performances away from losing his job at the end of the season. On paper, the Panthers are a playoff team, meanwhile, on the field they have holes on both sides of the ball that makes them look like a soft team. Opposing teams are not afraid of Carolina at all. Tampa Bay took the game right at them and ran the ball down Carolina's throats. When they committed a safety closer to the front seven, Jeff Garcia picked them apart with passes. And unless wideout Steve Smith switches positions to quarterback so that he can touch the ball every play, the Panthers will not improve offensively.

If the team plays remotely close to this for the next couple of games, they won't win seven games.

Atlanta beat a depleted Houston Texans team, 26-16 for their first win of the season. Atlanta isn't quite as bad as I thought they were - not based on the Houston game, but how they've accounted for themselves so far this season. They barely lost to both Jacksonville and Carolina after a poor opening day performance against Minnesota. It's just too bad they don't have more than five winnable games on their schedule.

Hail to Brett Favre, the new QB king. Fav-ray cab shooore play dat dere game, dat Fav-ray can. Really, Brett Favre is the best quarterback I have ever witnessed. Throughout his career he's played gunslinger, gotten himself together through an addiction to painkillers and led the Green Bay Packers to a Super Bowl win, made a fair-to-middling team much better than it was, suffered through the pains of off-field reality and didn't lose it any more than anyone else would have, watched the team he plays for revamp itself while choosing to play the game he loves rather than whine his way onto another team or out of the game, and now he's reinvented himself as a venerable graybeard leader.

Yes, Favre has had his ups and downs as a QB and more importantly as a human, but he's come out the other end of the tunnel. The young players on the Packers appear to actually look up to Favre as an example of how you can grow up to be a man despite all the temptations to remain a boy.

Hail to the king. And hail to the 4-0 Green Bay Packers. In a stadium - the Metrodome - that has been a house of horrors for Favre in the best of times, he reeled himself in and played a beautiful game and the Pack got a "W" against the Minnesota Vikings, 23-16. Green Bay is for real.

Somebody puhleeeeze attack Peyton Manning! Pleeeeeezzzze! Damn I'm sick of watching teams play scared against Indianapolis, or come out attacking and as soon as Manning hits a big play or two, go into a, 'pleas don't hurt us too badly Mr. Manning" shell. Attack Manning like he's any other top QB. Even if you don't win, down the road all the pounding will take it's toll on Peyton, just like any other player.

Obviously, he's well prepared. Obviously he's super-accurate with his passes. Obviously his receivers run precise, if not predictable pass routes. But the defense must try its darndest to dictate play to the Colts or play beta dog to Manning's alpha offense.

The Denver Broncos did one good thing to the Colts and that's run on their defense. However, it did not appear that Mike Shanahan made the proper adjustments at halftime, or perhaps he didn't have enough trust in Jay Cutler to switch to passing to set up the run instead of, as he did to open the game, run to set up the pass. Shanahan, for whatever reason, allowed the Colts defense to become comfortable. This gave Manning and crew the extra possessions it needed to ease away with a 38-20 win.

Good luck NFL.

Seattle looks very good, so far and San Francisco misses Norv Turner. Mike Nolan needn't worry, because if the Chargers keep going this season will mercifully bring to an end Turner's stint on the head coaching carousel and maybe he'll come back to the 49ers as their offensive coordinator, where he belongs.

In the next few weeks, Seattle needs to make sure they can effectively run the ball. As the weather changes the Seahawk offense will be bogged down just enough to need an efficient run game. I think Mike Holmgren can accomplish that goal, which means the NFC West will come down to Arizona and Seattle.

Oakland is in such a tough division that it will be tough for them to get to nine games and maybe sneak into the playoffs.

But.

Daunte Culpepper has something to prove and Raiders head coach Lane Kiffin has found a two-headed run game monster in Lamont Jordan and Justin Vargas. Culpepper has freed Jerry Porter and the rest of the Oakland receivers because they know the ball will be there, whether on deep or short pass patterns. Oakland's defense is very solid and, as the entire team gains more confidence in the offense, the defense will be even better.

Watch out for this team. If they get one AFC West signature win, they might just be the surprise of the NFL.

In a battle of the horribles, the New York Jets squandered away a sure win against the Buffalo Bills. Eric Womangini forgot he was playing against a rookie quarterback and forgot to come at Trent Edwards with myriad blitz packages. As a result, Edwards looked entirely too comfortable for a QB making his first start, and helped the Jets blow the game.

Buffalo stinks and so do the Jets. At least there's Miami to keep them from a battle for last place in the AFC East.

The Baltimore Ravens defense is beyond savvy; they're growing old before our eyes. Brian Billick is going to have to allow either Steve McNair or Kyle Boller to put some fear into opposing defenses. If he doesn't, we will witness the coming quick end to Ray Lewis and company. The defense is just under too much pressure to carry the team. I'm afraid they will struggle to get to nine wins.

What else did I see Sunday? Hmmm, Dallas is very, very good - the class of the NFC in quarter number one. Detroit is better than anyone expected; it's the revenge of Matt Millen. Tampa Bay has a serious defense and if the offensive line can keep Mr. Perma-Chip on My Shoulder, Jeff Garcia, afloat and upright, look for Chuckie's squad to return to the playoffs.

Minnesota is rudderless.

Pittsburgh's loss to Arizona showed Mike Tomlin exactly how much emotion must be maintained in the NFL to consistently win on the road. It also showed him that Troy Polomalu and Hines Ward are the two most important member of the Steelers team. Without them, that emotion needed to win on the road is sorely missing.

Maybe some of those young cats on Kansas City's defense grew up today.

Houston is not a deep team.

Philadelphia and the New York Giants are two teams in search of themselves. The Giants actually look closer than the Eagles do.

And no matter what happens in the New England-Cincinnati game, the Patriots, with Indianapolis, are the class of the NFL. And the Bengals need to, from here on out, forget all antics - yes, that means you Chad Johnson - and just play football for awhile. I single out Johnson because he has the potential to be the true leader of the Bengals team, ala Michael Irvin and the Dallas Cowboys. That means no more props, no more planned sideline celebrations, just bring your emotion and play the game.

It isn't that I dislike what you do, I laugh, too. However, not everybody can play at the level you do and still entertain the world. I have a hunch that you teammates will listen to you more than anyone else in the locker room and if you bring natural rather than planned celebrations to games and tell the other 52 fellas that it will take total concentration and togetherness to win, the Bengals will transform themselves into one of the best teams in the league.

That's all, Chad.

---------

Well, that's it's for the first quarter of the NFL season. Quarter two is separation time. It should be interesting.

addendum: I have to gloat a little, here. Everybody is suddenly - today - comparing Romo to Favre. I made that observation a week ago. You could see it last season, though Romo was getting dumped on for his arm angle and release point (and still is by Skip Bayless, which shows you how much he knows about the game) but he was trying too hard to play the way he knows how in a system not built for him and the talent around him.

Now that Wade Phillips tapped Jason Garrett, one of the bright offensive minds in the NFL, to take the shackles off the talent and attack defenses, Romo looks so Favre-like it's scary. He's inventive, fearless, and he has fun playing the game.

Okay, enough for tooting my own horn.... I'm sure there's something I've written about some player or team that will be turn out to be totally wrong in the coming weeks.

Ohhhh yeah. There's nothing like starting a Friday off with a bang. This was going to be the first topic of yet another "Spotes Notes" segment, but hey, change does occur....

Rutgers Athletic Director Bob Mulcahy called the following statements reported in a New York Times article blatantly racist:

"If you were giving the scholarship to an intellectually brilliant kid who happens to play a sport, that's fine. But they give it to a functional illiterate who can't read a cereal box, and then make him spend 50 hours a week on physical skills. That's not opportunity. If you want to give financial help to minorities, go find the ones who are at the library after school."

The statement was made by William C. Dowling, a tenured English professor at Rutgers. Dowling has written a book memoir of the decade-long campaign against high-stakes athletics at Rutgers, "Confessions of a Spoilsport," (Penn State University Press) chronicling his fight against Rutgers University's entry into high stakes athletics:

"I wanted this book to be a monument," Dr. Dowling, 62, said after class. "I wanted it to be a monument to the kids and the faculty who rallied around this issue. We tried to take on the monster of commercialized sports, even if it swallowed us up and passed us out the other end. Someone should know that we fought the good fight. And because I believe in literature as a form of symbolic action, I want readers to see the possibility of another way. Think about the impact of a book like 'Uncle Tom's Cabin' on slavery."

Now, to be fair, the Dowling said the "racist" comment was taken out of context:

Contacted Thursday, Dowling defended his statement, saying that Mulcahy and McCormick had taken it out of context, that he was directly answering a question related to minorities.

"If someone has a way to answer that question without mentioning race, I would like to hear it," said Dowling, who called the officials' accusation of racism the "cheapest rhetorical ploy I've ever heard."

Dowling, who said he was arrested in the South during the 1960s for work in the civil rights movement, said McCormick was racist for running an athletics program that exploited minorities.

"None of these kids would have been able to get into Rutgers if they hadn't been able to throw something or kick something or slam dunk something," Dowling said.

Yikes! Sound more like a condemnation of big-time collegiate athletics to me.

The root of Dowling's experience (Dowling is a graduate of Dartmouth) come from his time as an assistant professor at the University of New Mexico in the 1970s where he witnessed a legendary rogue basketball program's rise to prominence:

As an assistant professor at the University of New Mexico in the 1970s, he saw firsthand how top basketball players were recruited and enrolled based on forged transcripts. Just to underscore the public support for victory at all costs, Norm Ellenberger, the coach who admitted the scams under oath, was acquitted by a New Mexico jury of criminal charges....

Dartmouth also instilled in Dr. Dowling an appreciation for what he calls now "participatory sports" - sports without scholarships, separate dorms, team tutors, product endorsements, television contracts, reduced admissions standards, easy classes and so many other tropes of Division I-A sports.

Now of course not all jocks black or white who attend college on football or basketball scholarships are functional illiterates, but too many are close enough to that description to make a person wonder just what the hell is going on at some universities. Yes, many athletes in big-time sports programs take "easy" classes to get the grades necessary to stay on teams.

Too many professors are identified as pro-athletics and are known for "giving up the grade" to allow athletes to remain eligible to play their given sport. Then many athletes go to college to receive what they hope is an excellent education. These athletes take "normal" classes, study their rear ends off, and get good grades.

This is a difficult, multi-dimensional issue. On one hand, there is evidence that most big-time athletic programs are losing money by the barrel and they skim off the remainder of the university's budget to balance their books. The debt is a drain on academics and "lesser" non-revenue earning sports that jeopardizes the worth of the entire institution. There is evidence that athletes do have a roster of "easy" classes to choose from; that some grades are fudged to keep athletes eligible.

On the other hand, these athletes are given scholarships to participate in activities that have nothing at all to do with academics, making their scholarships amount to little more than slave work agreements. They are allowed by the NCAA to work at their craft 20 hours a week under the supervision of coaches. However, they often can be found alone or with a few other athletes in the gym, on the field, or in the weight or film room trying to enhance their athletic status and often to maintain their scholarship status. Twenty hours can easily turn into the 50 hours Dowling describes.

With hours beyond the normal work week already under their belts, these athletes must also attend classes full-time (under university standards) and somehow find time to study. The schedule is brutal. There is little time to lead the life of a young person more often than not away from home for the first time, little time to involve themselves in the extra-curricular goings-on of university life.

Then there are the ridiculously stringent NCAA rules that are petty enough to make it impossible for Ian Johnson, Boise State running back and his wife Chrissy Popadics receive wedding gifts. Here are the rules:

WEDDING GIFTS: Coaches can give gifts. BSU coaches are allowed to give Johnson a wedding gift, but only if they do the same for all of their players who invite them to weddings. The same rule applies to staff members. They must be able to document that under similar circumstances they have given gifts in the past.

BOOSTERS: Boosters should not give gifts. The general rule of thumb for gift-giving is to follow your standard practice. If you usually give a $50 gift to an acquaintance who gets married, then that's what you should do for the student-athlete in your life.

So, an athlete cannot put money into an NCAA-sanctioned account not to be tapped until he leaves the school, or until he has used his eligibility? No. Unlike other students who receive scholarships, athletes are in a state of servitude to their university. They generate millions of dollars in revenues and are not allowed to reap any of the monetary benefits of their work.

Dowling has touched a raw nerve at Rutgers. It is the same nerve exposed at every college or university participating in big-time collegiate athletics. And rather than listen to Dowling and other critiques of the NCAA system, whenever a critique is made public the NCAA simultaneously takes a defensive stance while simultaneously gearing into attack the critic mode, and claims system-wide perfection.

Like every element of American business, the NCAA has a side of its existence as an entity that borders on psychosis. It needs treatment - now.