Here’s JohnNY

I really don’t want to hear any more about this whole situation until the season starts, and many bloggers have written about this already, but I am obligated to share my thoughts.  The Damon ordeal has been a very strange one.  I’ve never had such a feeling of ambiguity (before and directly after the deal) with regards to a player who plays such a significant role on one of my favorite teams.  Prior to Johnny’s signing with the Yankees, I was unsure about what I wanted the Sox to do.  Of course I would have loved to have him back on the team, but with the apparent youth movement the Sox are making (prospects from within the system are beginning to play a role, such as Papelbon, Pedroia, Lester, Hansen, DelCarmen, as well as the acquisitions of Beckett, Marte, and Van Buren) I didn’t want them to sign him to a deal that would handcuff the organization and prevent other potential moves that could improve the team (now and in the future).  However, with the rumors increasing about the Sox trying to go after Coco Crisp, Jeremy Reed, and other CF candidates, I had a feeling JD wouldn’t be back. 

So then, in an event than seemed almost inevitable as the days went by, Johnny drank some of Scott Boras’ world famous Traitor-ade and signed with the Yankees.  My first reaction to hearing the news was one of ambivalence, mainly because I had convinced myself the Sox would be OK with one of the other CF candidates, but once I heard Johnny’s comments from approximately 10 minutes after he was an official Yankee, that feeling changed.  The man who said in May of ‘05, “There’s no way I can go play for the Yankees.”, was now saying things like, “I'm part of the Yankees and that great lineup. We're going to be a tough team to beat.”; and "Our policy with the Yankees is to go out there and win and we're going to try and bring another championship to them."  Hearing Johnny Damon say things like that when he’d been a part of that team for such a short amount of time made me feel sick. 

I appreciate JD and all of the things he did for the Sox (including the most obvious thing), but after this, I don’t think I will ever like or respect him again.  Of course he could play the “The Red Sox didn’t really want me back.” card, but he knows that is not the case.  The Sox a plan to not overpay JD, so they made him an offer that they thought was fair enough, and left it on the table.  When a person is making upwards of 10 million dollars, what exactly does a couple of extra million dollars mean?  I would love for any athlete, agent, celebrity, or anybody else to explain this to me.  Maybe Johnny was holding out because the Sox were only going to give him enough money to buy 3 countries in South America instead of the 4 that he wanted.  It has long been clear that in most cases, it’s all about the money.  However, it is always discouraging to see an example of that which has relevance to you as a fan.  This guy surrendered being treated as royalty and the luxury of never having to pay for many a thing (meals for sure) throughout New England, for a couple of extra million bucks, and I don’t know if I will ever really understand that.  Although I now strongly dislike Johnny Damon the person, I am not feeling the sense of panic that some may be feeling when thinking about this situation in terms of the baseball impact. 

First, Johnny Damon just does not seem to fit in with the Yankees.  Johnny’s hair and persona have become as much a part of his game as anything else, and when you take into account how superstitious many athletes (especially baseball players) are, sometimes causing a player to deviate from his comfort zone can have an effect on his performance (Jason Giambi anyone?).   Another thing about is that in addition to the fact that his arm is no stronger than Bernie Williams’ (or Jodie Foster’s for that matter), the ~150 games that Johnny has played in each season for the last 10 years seem to be beginning to take a toll on him.  JD is a player who leaves it all on the field, but he was visibly tired at the end of last season and his  2005 pre/post all-star break splits looked like this (AVG/OBP/OPS): Pre All-Star: .343/.386/.858;  Post All-Star: .282/.343/.740.  Also, JD’s 3-year home/road splits (2003-2005) are as follows: Fenway: .318/.338/.836; everywhere else: .278/.340/.773.  And last but not least (sorry to beat you over the head with stats, but its baseball, and I want to let you people know why I don’t think there is a need to panic), Johnny’s career numbers in Yankee Stadium: 66 games, .252 average, .301 OBP, .647 OPS, 4 HR, 26 RBI (keep in mind, in game 7 of the 2004 ALCS, Johnny was 3-6 with 2 of those HR’s and 6 of those RBI).  I believe that Coco Crisp/Jeremy Reed will be able to make up at least 80% of Johnny’s offensive production this season, as well as quite possibly serving as an upgrade to JD’s defense.  Those things, in addition to the Sox potentially signing Kevin Millwood to upgrade the rotation (with the money saved as a result of Johnny leaving), could actually improve the team. 

All that being said, I do think Johnny will be a huge upgrade from what the Yankees would have had in CF, and he should put up some big numbers in that lineup of all lineups.  However, in the not too distant future, I believe he will become an albatross just as Bernie was this past season, and the bottom line is this.  His signing will not result in more World Championships for the Yanks.  Brain Cashman and the Yankees’ front office appeared to have learned a mini-lesson last season by having players like Shawn Chacon, Robinson Cano, and Aaron Small among others help lead their team to another AL East Championship; while big offseason signings like Carl Pavano and Jaret Wright didn’t pan out and turned into instant bad signings.  However, I guess the opening in CF and the opportunity for Steinbrenner (who obviously did not learn a lesson, and make no mistake about it, this was clearly Steinbrenner’s decision – there is none of that increase of autonomy for Cashman going on when it comes down to it) to stick it to the Red Sox was too tasty to pass up, so Georgie Porgie opened up his wallet yet again and JD is now in pinstripes.  Signings like this do not a championship team make.  And while the Yankees are going the Yankees route of signing every big name possible regardless of how they fit in with the team, the Sox are going the White Sox route of trying to put together a cohesive team that can “play the game the right way” (as Larry Brown would say); and before everybody writes off the Red Sox as 2^nd/3^rd in the AL East (Buster Olney *cough*) let’s just wait until the roster looks a little clearer come Spring Training to make our predicitions. 

So in closing, thanks for everything Johnny, but in the end, please don’t try to say it was about anything except the money.  I will be looking forward to Josh Beckett blowing you away with 97 mph gas, as well as your first slump in NY, when you will be one of the few players who will be hated by Red Sox and Yankee fans alike.

 

The Cuban Baseball Crisis

The fact that Cuba is currently unable to participate in the World Baseball Classic (which I think should be renamed; one would think an event that has the word “Classic” in its title would have to be an event with some sort of established tradition) because of U.S. laws and regulations governing certain transactions with Cuba is beyond absurd.  I’m not even sure if I like the idea of this tournament (I can see the positives and negatives), because of the fact that it cuts into spring training and the players’ ability to become familiar with their team, however I believe that if this tournament is going to be played, it should be played correctly; and that includes allowing every country possible to participate in the WORLD Baseball Classic, especially a country such as Cuba.  Cuba has a rich baseball history and they are one of the few teams who can compete with the U.S. and Dominican Republic in this tournament.  Obviously, the real issue here is money, and the fact that Cuba may be receiving some as a result of the WBC.  To address that issue, I implore the government to look at the fact that there are several Cubans in the MLB right now, including Orlando Hernandez and Jose Contreras.  When these players make their millions, do people honestly think that none of that money is going to find its way to Cuba in order to assist family members, build better baseball facilities for kids, etc.?  Now, as if the Government’s decision didn’t look dumb enough in the first place (this is a baseball tournament, not gun running, or a drug war, and this has no relevance to our gripes with their political system), somebody in Cuba pulled off a masterful P.R. move by stating that the Cuban team will donate any money it makes in the WBC to Hurricane Katrina victims.  This is a great move by Cuba to show the U.S. that they just want to participate in the tourney for love of the game and national pride, not to extort money from the U.S.  If the Government declines Cuba after this, I really won’t know what to say. 

Just let Cuba play.  As I said before, they are one of the 3 teams, in my mind, who have a chance to compete with the U.S. and the D.R. (the two teams which Mr. Ice Water in My Veins, Alex Rodriguez, couldn’t build up the gumption to choose between, so he just decided not to participate – what a stand up guy; seriously, has there ever been a more spineless “best player in the game”?  He never shows up when it counts, see: 2005 playoffs, and when asked about leadership and things of that nature he responds with gems such as, “This is still Jeter's team because he's the captain, but my approach is not to be everyone's best friend… My approach is to win championships. The only way to do that is to be myself, and to take care of my world. With my talent, people will follow naturally.”), the other teams being Venezuela and Japan.  Who else is going to be any sort of competition for these teams?  Definitely not The Netherlands, with Andruw Jones and nothing else; perhaps they could get Ruud van Nistelrooy and Dennis Bergkamp to play, at least some soccer fans would watch.  Australia won’t compete, even though the influence of former Milwaukee Brewer great Dave Nilsson (the only Australian baseball player I’ve ever heard of) will surely be felt.  Do I really need to go through any other teams?  Stop the madness… Cuba Libre! (at least for the WBC).
 

Stop!... Kobe Time

Kobe Bryant put on one of the best displays of basketball dominance I have ever seen this week, when he dropped 62 points in three quarters against the Mavs on Tuesday.  It actually got to the point where Josh Howard took a page out of coach Jack Reilly’s book (the coach of the Hawks in “The Mighty Ducks”, who told his players to remove Adam Banks from the game at all costs) and tried to take Kobe out of the game by hacking him, but it was all in vein, as Kobe continued to have his way.  I wish Phil Jackson pulled a Steve Spurrier and left Kobe in for the 4^th quarter of the smackdown of the Mavs, because it would have been nice to witness some history and see Kobe break Elgin Baylor’s Lakers scoring record of 71.  After the game, a journalist was trying to imply that Kobe’s 62-point effort may have been a message to Shaq (they have another holiday showdown on Christmas Day).  That is such a ridiculous notion, I shouldn’t even gratify it with an opinion, but I’m going to anyway.  No player, not Kobe, not anybody, is good enough to score 62 points in three quarters at will because he wants to send a message to a rival player who he is playing against, not in the next game, but at some point in the future.  This notion seems even more implausible when you consider the fact that this “message” and the rivalry are for the most part media creations and have no real relevance to the players themselves.  If that were the case, players like Carmelo, Kobe, Dwayne Wade, and Lebron would average 80 ppg, because there always seems to be some sort of media-created mini-showdown game on the horizon for every star player in the NBA.  This Kobe/Shaq thing has officially reached the point of out of control, oddly enough with neither player acknowledging the other; and I feel bad that no matter what they do on the court, ultimately they have to be bothered with this nonsense (as bad as I would feel for a person making absurd amounts of money for doing what they love to do).  Regardless, things just seem to be going the right way for Kobe again, because half-way into his 5-year, $45 million contract with Nike, he is finally getting his own Nike sneaker.  The sneaker will debut on Christmas Day when Kobe will wear it during the aforementioned showdown with the Heat.  Apparently Nike believes Kobe’s image is repaired enough for them to begin utilizing the marketability of the superstar, and I can’t argue with their decision, because Kobe and LeBron James should give Nike the most amazingly marketable duo of NBA players in quite some time.  That’s all about Kobe for now, I just wanted to recognize his amazing effort.  In the meantime, I have to go prepare for the ultimate showdown between Shaq and Kobe, they may actually look at each other once or twice in this year’s game.

Look Who’s Talking

This week’s Pot Calling the Kettle Black award goes to Mike Tice, for telling Vikings fans not to scalp tickets.  I’m not discrediting Mike’s solid coaching job this season (he’s got to be a finalist for coach of the year), I just thought this was hilarious and I had to include it in my rant.  Here are some imaginary scenarios that would be akin to Mike Tice telling these fans not to scalp:

Jessica Simpson telling somebody to smarten up.

Isaiah Rider telling somebody to quit smoking marijuana.

Vince Carter telling somebody to play hard, no matter what the situation.

Jim Mora, Sr. telling somebody to be optimistic.

Johnny Damon telling somebody to have some self-integrity.

Drew Rosenhaus demanding that somebody answer his questions.

Todd Bertuzzi refereeing a boxing match and telling the fighters he wants a clean fight.

Paris Hilton telling somebody to have some class.
 
I could go on with these for weeks (I may have to include things like this in my blogs in the future, it’s pretty fun), but you get the point.

R.I.P. James Dungy
I just want to give my deepest condolences to the Dungy family.  This is a travesty and yet another incident that puts sports into perspective.   My thoughts and wishes will be with the Dungys throughout the Holidays.

One thing I would like to say before I get started on particular All-Stars for this season is the fact that I believe that there shouldn’t be any quotas for positions on the All-Star teams.  If there is only 2 guards worthy of being on the roster, pick 2 guards, don’t fill up the roster with backup guards who don’t deserve to be there.  If you try to fill some imaginary quota for one position, you are also eliminating players worthy of the roster from another position (a great example is this year’s is the Western guards and forwards, I will get into that later).  This will become more apparent when you see how I select my rosters.

Now onto my qualms with this year’s balloting and who I think should be starting…

 
Let me start with the biggest guys in the L, a position at which the NBA possesses the least depth, the center spot.  The leaders of their respective conferences are Yao Ming (729,178 votes) and Shaquille O’Neal (646,085).  No surprises here, especially when you factor in the overseas voting for Yao.  Maybe I’m coming out of left field here, but I think that players who have played in less than, let’s say 10, of their team’s games when the season is approaching the halfway point, should be completely left off of the ballot, so that the voters will be forced to actually look up other players at that position.  Shaq has played in 6 games at this point, and if you prefer to go by stats, he is averaging a mediocre 16 points and 7 boards per game, that’s the bottom line.  Shaq can still be amazing at times, but at this point in the season, he hasn’t been All-Star starter quality.  Yao hasn’t had any injury problems, but he is not playing like the best center in the west on offense or defense.  Yao is averaging 19 pts. and 9 boards per game and he is not asserting himself on defense.  I have watched quite a few Rockets games over the past couple of years, especially this year (not by choice, the fact that the Rockets are nationally televised every other night is really starting to get under my skin, although its not as bad as when Michael Jordan made his triumphant return to the Wiz and I had the pleasure of having Washington Wizards games drilled into my head on what seemed like an hourly basis.  I think the feeling of sitting through those games could best be described as the feeling the young African-American gentleman had in “American History X” when Ed Norton told him to bite the curb.  It was especially nice when it was a Wizards home game, what an intense atmosphere that was.  Imagine the pressures of having to perform in front of 14-plus fans that were absolutely incessant during the 1^st 3 minutes of games, unbelievable.) and I have never once seen Yao do anything to make me think he was worthy of being an All-Star starter in this league.  I guess there is still the notion that with more experience in the league, Yao will grow into a tougher player.  That notion is going nowhere, the man is softer than toilet paper at Celine Dion’s mansion.  Yao is 7’5” and he simply doesn’t have it in him to become a great center in this league (Yes, I am giving up on him even though he is still only 25).  He has a career average of 1.45 blocks per game, and he’s 7’5”!  If a person is 7’5” playing in the NBA, ####ing bodies down on the blocks for 40 minutes a game, wouldn’t they have to get at least 1 block per game as a result of sheer size and maybe luck?  As the great Sidney Deane said in White Men Can’t Jump, “The sun even shines on a dog’s #### some days.”  I guess that doesn’t apply to Yao.  Either way, until Yao shows me something, he doesn’t deserve to be mentioned in the same breath with any top tier center in this league (a list that contains about 3 players in Shaq, Ben Wallace, and Brad Miller in my mind).  Sorry Yao.

My starting Center, Eastern Conference:
Ben Wallace (Det) – Ben is one of the more valuable all-around players in the NBA and he serves as the centerpiece for the best defense in the league.  He won’t wow the average fan with his numbers (8.5 ppg, 11.5 rpg) but he is one of the most solid players you can find and he is consistently in the top 5 in blocks (2 per game this season) and also in the top 25 in steals (1.6 this season).  You won’t be able to truly appreciate his game unless you watch basketball, so I guess it’s way too much to ask for most of these voters to vote for Ben.

My starting C, Western Conference:
Marcus Camby (Den) – 17 ppg, 13.3 rpg, 1.43 spg, 3.2 bpg; Marcus is playing unconscious this season.  His level of play is higher this year than it was at UMass (where he took it to the great Tim Duncan a few times).  He has put up some Wilt Chamberlain-esque performances this season (12/2 v. PHO - 33 pts, 20 rebs, 3 blks; 11/30 v. NOR - 16 pts, 16 rebs, 8 blks; 11/22 v. WAS – 24 pts, 14 rebs, 6 blks; 11/20 v. MEM - 21 pts, 21 rebs, 4 blks; 11/13 v.  MIN – 18 pts, 22 rebs, 7 blks; 11/4 v. POR – 23 pts, 17 rebs, 6 blks).  In my mind, Marcus is an MVP candidate, however, he recently pulled a Camby and went down with the inevitable, periodical injury.  Let’s hope he gets back on the floor soon.

Bench:
East – nobody at the C position.  I would rotate Jermaine O’Neal and Chris Bosh (who can both play F/C) at the center spot to spell Ben.

West – Brad Miller (Sac) – Miller is a unique and very dangerous player, especially considering the fact that he plays center.  He has low post passing skills similar to Chris Webber in his prime and he consistently flirts with triple-doubles.  He is averaging 14 points, 7 boards, and 6 dimes per game, and that is more than any team could ask for from their 5 spot.  To put it in perspective, Brad is 12^th in the NBA in assists (141), 14^th in the NBA is assist/TO ratio (2.71), as well as 19^th in the NBA in defensive rebounds (140)  His defense could be better, but it isn’t terrible.  He deserves to be on the team.  And just so everybody realizes, Chris Mihm and Erick Dampier have presently received more votes than Brad Miller, these are just some examples of the insanity that occurs when fans are in charge of voting.  I will bring more examples up as I think of them. 

Now let’s move from the largest players in the league who do the dirty work, to the smallest players who play the “sexiest” position in basketball, the guards… 

 
I don’t have any dramatic problems with the guard voting at the moment, because luckily the vote leaders are playing up to their potential for the most part.  Allen Iverson is a top 5 player in the league and a future hall of famer, that’s the end of that discussion.  Dwyane Wade is an absolute stud who, in my opinion, is the player in the league today who is most similar to His Airness.  There are your two All-Star starters at G for the East.  Vince Carter, Jason Kidd, Chauncey Billups, Gil Arenas all deserve to have a spot on the East roster as well, not to mention a player who is not even close to the top 10 in voting, TJ Ford.  Of the 5 players I have just mentioned, I would select three: Chauncey Billups, Gil Arenas, and Vince Carter.  Arenas is a player who goes under most peoples’ radar when discussion of the best guards in the NBA comes up.  He has been playing at an unstoppable level for a good part of this season and he has as good an ability to take a game over as any player in the league (ask Kirk Hinrich, Ben Gordon and the rest of the baby Bulls regarding last season’s postseason series).  Gil has impressive averages of 28 ppg, 6 apg, and 1.5 spg.  Chauncey Billups is having his best season as a pro and is a big playing a key role on the best team in the east and arguably the entire NBA, putting up 18 ppg and about 8.6 apg.  Vince Carter is Vince Carter and he is having a solid season (he’s gotten back to being his old self after he sold out all of his teammates in Toronto and forced a trade, which is nice to see). 

The G position in the West has a lot less depth and it’s much easier for me to make my picks from the West without feeling any guilt about leaving players out.  The leading vote getters here are accurate for the most part with Kobe and the reigning MVP Stevie Nash holding down the top 2 spots.  Those are my starters.  I would really loved to have made the next player I’m going to discuss my starter, but the performance of the 2 players I have previously mentioned made it impossible.  My 1^st guard off the bench for the Western All-Stars would be, “My Main Man” (© Ahmad Rashad), Chris Paul of YOUR New Orleans/Oklahoma City Hornets!  I cannot remember a player having as productive a rookie season as this, at such a crucial position, with such a lack of publicity.  CP3, as he is affectionately known by friends and Wake Forest faithful, has taken the Hornets from being arguably the worst team in the NBA, to a respectable team that is hanging in there at 10-13 (good for 4^th place in the Southwest division, ahead of the uncanny Houston Rockets) amidst all of the turmoil that resulted from Hurricane Katrina.  The Hornets have chalked up some big wins over some quality teams this season (Phoenix, LAC, Denver twice, Miami), while almost beating the Spurs.  CP3 is putting up impressive numbers on both ends of the court, averaging 17 points, 7 assists, and 6 rebounds per game, in addition to being 4^th in the league with 2.18 steals per game.  My 4^th and final guard from the West is Baron Davis (b.k.a. B Diddy).  Baron is leading a resurgent Golden State team that is only a half game out of 1^st place in the Pacific division behind the Suns and the new look Clippers.  Davis is the leader of the Warriors and is averaging 17 points, 10 assists, and 5 boards per game.

I just have one question regarding the voting for the Western guards.  How on God’s green Earth is Baylor University’s own, the former Celtic great, DAVID WESLEY, holding down 7^th place in All-Star voting for all guards in the West?!?!  The only explanation for this that I can think of, other than divine intervention, has to be the absolutely gaudy averages of 8.5 ppg, 3 apg, and 3 rpg that he’s putting up this year.  I actually think the stat that put him over the top on most people’s ballots was his amazing block per game average for a guard,  .05 bpg.  I think I would snort wasabi like Steve-O did on “####” in order to find out how David Wesley managed 89,818 votes (Ordinarily I would do something like make a comment about this situation with relation to the Bobby Phills incident - or maybe with relation to the Patrick Dennehy scandal at David's alma mater, but for Bobby Phills and everybody else's sake I will refrain).  Never mind the fact that he received more votes than Jason Richardson, Mike Bibby, and the current unanimous choice for R.O.Y. - Chris Paul, to name a few.  Wow.

My starting G’s, East:
Allen Iverson (Phila) – 34 ppg, 8 apg, 2.17 spg; AI is once again playing out of his mind.  Every year we hear about how he’s going to breakdown, but somehow he keeps getting better; it’s really unbelievable.

Dwyane Wade (Mia) – 27 ppg, 7 apg, 7 rpg, 2.3 spg; In my opinion, Wade is one of the best players the NBA has to offer.  I think the fact that I compared him to Jordan should say enough.

My starting G’s, West:
Steve Nash (Pho) – 18 ppg, 11 apg; Helping (along with “The Matrix”) to carry his team without Amare around.  Having another tremendous season and aging like a fine wine.

Kobe Bryant (LAL) – 31 ppg, 5 rpg, 4 apg; Kobe was being very efficient early on in the season and looked as if he was poised to have the best season of his career.  Lately, his efficiency has decreased and he seems to be forcing things a bit more; but he is still Kobe.  His offensive skills combined with his defensive prowess make him a perennial all-NBA player.

 
Bench G’s:
East – Chauncey Billups (Det), Gilbert Arenas (Was), Vince Carter (NJ)

West – Chris Paul (NOR), Baron Davis (GSW)

--- here's an edit/update regarding CP3... He led the Hornets to yet another big win (probably the biggest win this franchise has been a part of in some time) over the San Antonio Spurs while coming one assist short of a triple-double...

cp3's line tonight...
17 pts, 9 asts, 12 rebs, 5 stls, 1 TO

He outplayed the great Desperate House-husband Tony Parker (17 pts, 5 reb, 3 ast) and outscored AND outrebounded Tim Duncan (11 pts, 8 rebs)... great job.

And on we go to the position that always provides the most logjams when it comes to All-Star rosters, Forward…

 
I’m going to start off with the East, because it doesn’t make me quite as upset as what’s going on with the voting for the West.  LeBron James and Jermaine O’Neal are the two leading vote-getters.  I don’t really have any problems with those two, although Jermaine would not be a starter on my ballot.  My starting forward, other than LeBron would be one of the most consistently overlooked NBA stars, Paul Pierce.  Pierce is in the middle of what could be the best season of his career.  He is getting his teammates involved a lot more, complaining less (for both of these things I give some credit to Ricky Davis, who has truly matured this year in his own right, and who has befriended Paul over the last couple of years, which has resulted in a gradual change in attitude in Paul and given him the ability to have confidence in his teammates).  He has been very efficient this year (6^th in the NBA in efficiency rating – 27.1) while putting up averages of 27 ppg, 8.6 rpg, 4 apg, and 1.4 spg (he’s 12^th in the league in def. rebounds per game, 6^th in points per game, and is getting to the line as much as ever, ranking 3^rd in FTA).  It is apparent when you watch Paul play that he has taken his game to a higher level and I wish he would get more respect for what he does for his team.  The fact that Rasheed Wallace and Chris Webber have received more votes than Paul is a little ridiculous (yet another example of the ignorance of fan voting), and the fact that Ron Artest has more votes than him is just borderline surprising, because I didn’t even know he was popular enough among fans to garner that many votes (I think Ron is a great player, but I believe Paul deserves it more than he does this year).   Another aspect of the East forward voting that is bad news is the fact that Chris Bosh is 9^th, behind Tayshaun Prince and Grant Hill (yes, the Grant Hill who did not play one game before Wednesday, Dec. 14^th – these are the types of things that really make me scratch my head, more on that when I get to the West).  Bosh (averaging 22 ppg, 10 rpg, and 3 apg) certainly deserves a spot on the East roster (not as a starter), and he has clearly had a better season than Rasheed, C-Webb, Tayshaun, Artest, and of course Grant Hill.  However, nobody would know about Bosh’s season, because he is stuck in NBA purgatory (Can we please move the Raptors to St. Louis or something?  Get those guys out of there.)

Now we come to the spot which possesses the most talent and depth in the entire league, the forward spot in the Western Conference.  The fact that Tracy McGrady (600,507) is the leading vote-getter irritates me for a few reasons.  Tracy has missed some time this season with injuries (about 9 games), and has not performed at a true all-star level.  Sure, he has a decent stat line, but when I have watched him this season, he hasn’t shown me anything to make me believe that he should be on the West roster over some of his peers (although his defense is more on again, off again than the relationship between Pam Anderson and Tommy Lee -- due to in part to his lack of effort at times; so maybe that's something to be proud about).   The list of names that follow T-Mac on the ballot are much more impressive and all of those players deserve a spot over him.  Kevin Garnett and Tim Duncan are performing like their usual MVP-selves (with Duncan and KG facing off the other night and KG stealing the show with a 24 point, 21 rebound, 6 assist, 4 block game… in a LOSING EFFORT) and I believe that KG deserves to start at F for the West while “Timmay” definitely deserves a spot as well, but I believe it should be off the bench.  Dirk Nowitzki and Carmelo Anthony follow KG and Tim and I believe Dirk deserves a spot on the team, however Carmelo does not.  This is not a knock on Melo, because he’s having a great season, you will understand why I’m leaving him off the team soon enough.  After Carmelo is where these great, NBA-loving voters took the balloting to a new low. 

To be honest, when I looked at the balloting for the Western forwards, I felt like Alex Trebek on Celebrity Jeopardy (the SNL version), with the fans who were responsible for these votes playing the roles of Burt Reynolds and Sean Connery.  Elton Brand, the man who is carrying the LA Clippers this season to a first place standing in the Pacific division, and who, along with Mike Dunleavy, is making people actually believe that Donald Sterling has some sort of new found dedication to winning, is my pick for co-MVP of the league right now.  Shawn Marion is the other half of my co-MVP selection and, in my opinion, he’s carrying the Suns on his shoulders even more than Steve Nash is at this point.  But apparently, neither of these players are doing enough to convince most voters that they are outperforming Amare Stoudemire at this point in the season.  Maybe I’m crazy, but I was under the impression that Amare was injured and has not played a game this season.  I don’t remember seeing Amare Stoudemire play in any games this year, let me check this out.  Wow, it turns out I’m not crazy, because I just googled Amare to confirm my thoughts on the issue, and yes, the man is out for 4 months with a knee injury which he needed surgery for!  Who would’ve thought?  The worst part about this is the fact that it isn’t unprecedented.  Events similar to this have happened with Grant Hill, Vince Carter, Alonzo Mourning, and I think it even happened with Rebecca Lobo one season in the WNBA (I must have seen this on TV at some point and I have no idea why it stuck in my head), but I believe this time around, the Amare debacle takes the cake.  I have never seen one player who is having an MVP type season, get crapped on in the voting process so badly, and this season we get to see this happen two-fold.  I have an idea that would make me feel a little better about this situation.  I would like to organize a group of vigilantes whose job will be to hunt down every single person who voted for Amare Stoudemire, go to their house, knock on their door, belt them in the face with a water balloon at point blank range, and tell them that they can never vote for an all-star event for the rest of eternity.  That sounds reasonable to me, because it’s not too severe, but it will still hurt those people’s pride and make them think twice the next time they want to do something so senseless, and that’s what’s important in a situation like this.  I would ask the NBA to implement some sort of entry level quiz that must be passed by all fans who desire to vote for all-stars, but that’s unrealistic. 

My starting F’s, East:
LeBron James (Cle) – 30 ppg, 6 rpg, 5 apg, 1.52 spg; I don’t think I have to say much about LeBron, aside from the fact that I hope he continues to make a great effort to involve his teammates.  We all know how great of a player he is and he’s at his best when he’s creating plays, not just shooting.

Paul Pierce (Bos) – 27 ppg, 9 rpg, 4 apg, 1.43 spg; I’ve said what I have to say about Paul.  If you get a chance to watch him closely, especially this season, take advantage, and you will understand where I am coming from. 

My starting F’s, West:
Kevin Garnett (Min) – 22 ppg, 10 rpg, 5 apg, 1.3 spg, 1.5 bpg; KG is being his usual self and will be in the MVP race yet again.  It’s a shame that his team can’t help him out a little more.  I hope he gets himself out of Minnesota because there are a growing amount of hall of fame seasons that are wasting away like the Olsen twins in the land of 10,000 lakes. 

Shawn Marion (Pho) – 19 ppg, 12 rpg, 2 apg, 1.86 spg, 1.76 bpg; Shawn is having what is in my opinion the best season of any player in the league.  He knew that there would be added pressure on him this year as a result of the Amare injury and under that pressure, he has stepped his game up to a whole new level.  Shawn is 4^th in the NBA in boards per game, 8^th in steals, 17^th in blocks, and 2^nd in double-doubles.  And as if that weren’t enough, he showed up some guys who came into America West Arena while he was practicing and started talking smack to him (I have no idea how they got into the arena and were able to play on the court, but I know that these guys referred to themselves as "civilians", a term that me and my buddy Chim agree should never be used when trying to talk trash, it's wrong on too many levels, one being the fact that it implies that professional ballplayers are soldiers, and another being it just doesn't make much sense and is not intimidating at all, whatever.) and did it with a vest that was strapped with 18 5-lb weights.  Can you believe this guy?

Bench F’s:
East – Jermaine O’Neal (Ind), Chris Bosh (Tor), Chris Webber (Phi), Dwight Howard (Orl)

 
West – Elton Brand (LAC), Tim Duncan (SA), Dirk Nowitzki (Dal), Pau Gasol (Mem)

So those are MY All-Star teams, and although it may be a little premature to be talking NBA All-Star game, I figured I should give you some of my thoughts while they are still fresh.  But, I’ve written too much already for this entry.  I’ll write again soon about the All-Day NBA Under the Radar team, as well as the Sex Boat (which I keep forgetting), A-Rod’s decision not to play in the WBC, and other stuff. 

Day-ly Dish, Dec. 15th

 
The Nomar Sweepstakes

As an indication of how weak this year's MLB free agent market is, right now the hottest talk on the estufa caliente revolves around Nomar Garciaparra.  Nomar's last couple of years have been very lackluster and marred with injuries, and his decision to turn down the 4 year, 60 million deal offered to him by the Red Sox back in the offseason of 2003 is looking worse and worse by the day.   His last two years have been such a stark contrast to his 1997-2003 self; they have actually led to accusations of steroid use.  However, this shouldn't be surprising given how liberally steroid accusations are thrown around at this day and age in the MLB.  These random accusations are really getting old now, any player having a down year or any inkling of a prolonged slump is immediately brought up in steroid talk.  I find it hard to believe that a player, who used steroids and then got off of them, would immediately fall off a cliff production wise and I find it even harder to believe that if that player happens to have an injury, that there is no explanation for that injury other than steroids.  Now, we all know that certain players have used steroids in baseball, but I think there is a slim possibility that there are other explanations for drops in production and injuries.  Look at Jason Giambi, he got rid of his steroid problem and still mashed this past year.  These guys are professional baseball players, they had to have acquired some dexterity in the game of baseball to get as far as they did, steroids can only help a player so much.  Sorry about that steroid tangent.  Nomar has narrowed his list to four teams, the Yankees, Dodgers, Indians, and Astros, and his new role with whichever team he chooses will be a 1B/OF/ “super-utility” player, which is a far cry from when he was one of the premier shortstops in the game.  Speaking of which, let’s take a look back at the last time I paid serious attention to Mr. Mia Hamm.

For quite some time, I revered Nomar and the way he played the game (I’m not going to lie, I liked the whole bust it down the line to first, hustling every play thing, despite how cliché it may sound), but I lost a lot of respect for him during the 2004 season.  July 1^st, 2004, during that classic regular season Sox/Yankees bout that lasted 13 innings is when any love I had left for Nomar disappeared.  As I’m sure most of us remember, he refused to enter the game (using his ankle injury, which was fully healed by that time as an excuse) despite the fact that the Sox could have used his help to say the least.  That alone made me dislike Nomar quite a bit, but the fact that his counterpart, the Mr. Fantastic to Nomar's Dr. Doom, the great Derek “Captain Intangible” Jeter, was out there diving into the stands and going more all-out than Danny Bonaduce at an open bar, made Nomar look that much worse.  Ever since that day, Nomar has never seemed the same, it’s as if he was robbed of his manhood and his character was totally transformed.  I’ll give you guys a metaphor to better illustrate what I’m saying.  Before that game, Nomar was Mike Lowrey (Will Smith) from Bad Boys and after that game, he turned into Karl Childers (Billy Bob Thornton) from Sling Blade. 

 
"Thanks, Beautiful."

I just hope whoever signs Nomar at this point understands exactly what they are getting.  He is a solid player, who can still rake at times, and hose defense has dropped off over the years.  This is all assuming that he stays healthy, the odds of which are similar to the odds of me and my 6’3”, 260 lb. frame becoming a jockey and winning the Preakness.  All that being said, I think that Nomar could still be a productive player in this “super-utility” role and he seems like a good candidate to be a low risk (hopefully for the team that signs him, his contract is ridiculously incentive-laden, as I’m sure it will be) high reward type player at this point in his career, especially given this free agent market.   Wherever he signs, he wouldn’t be relied upon heavily, and unless he goes to the Yankees, he will be in a virtually pressure-free situation.  My suggestion to Nomar would be to go to the Dodgers.  He is a California guy, as I said it will be a very low pressure situation, and he will be able to tutor some of the young bucks coming up through the LA system such as Joel Guzman, Andy LaRoche, and James Loney, and he would probably only have to play hard from the 3^rd inning to the 7^th for the Dodger faithful (I kid, I kid).

 
Ron-Ron, Ar-testing the Pacers

Let me start off by saying that I really respect Ron Artest’s game, in fact, he’s one of my favorite NBA players.  If I were to select a player from the NBA to show a young kid how the game should be played, I think I would pick Artest.  He is one of the few NBA players who has been blessed with immense talent, but still has a great heart, hunger, and passion for winning and for the game itself.  Ron is the best on the ball defender in the NBA.  He is Bruce Bowen with more talent and tenacity.  He is a 6’7”, 250-pound bull, and he can shut down the other team’s best player no matter who it is.  Not to mention the fact that he can drop 30 points whenever he feels like it (This is one of the reasons for his displeasure with the Pacers right now, he feels that he is being greatly underutilized on offense and I can’t disagree – but don’t get it confused, there are other reasons he wants out, such as lack of a comfort level and things of that sort).  All of these aspects of his personality apply to Ron Artest on the court.  Off the court, he’s a little out there.  He conducts himself like an immature child quite a bit and he has been in and out of anger management since age 9; but when you dig a little deeper into his words and actions, it is easy to see where most of his thoughts come from.  For all of the talent he has been blessed with, he counters that with a great lack of tact, and the Pacers front office needs to realize that this is not a problem that warrants a trade of Artest, no matter what he says. 

Ron Artest can talk all he wants, but when it comes down to it, Rick Carlisle and the gang know that he is going to play ball, because he still loves the game, in addition to the fact that not playing would hurt him just as much as it would hurt the Pacers.  This whole state of affairs really reminds me of the Manny Ramirez situation.  Manny asks for a trade every couple of months like clockwork, but when it comes time to play, he’s always out there mashing and playing left field like Kerry Collins after a tough night at Seamus’ Irish Pub.  Manny and Ron are also both a bit crazy in their own ways, Manny just seems like a less volatile person.  I think of Manny as “Monk” crazy so to speak (the show on USA), he’s eccentric and everything, but he won’t really hurt anybody; while I think of Ron Artest as Mr. Blonde crazy (Reservoir Dogs) because he keeps his composure for the most part and gets the job done, but if a situation arises where he feels like his happiness or lifestyle may be in jeopardy, he will do what needs to be done to protect himself (that’s just how he was raised, in the projects of Queensbridge, NY, and there’s no way to change that now; people should realize this and try to understand him more; it seems as if people don’t want to try to understand that aspect of Ron). 

The sensitive side of Ron.

 
Despite the fact that Ron Artest is portrayed as the bad guy most of the time (especially after the “Malice at the Palace” where I still don’t think he did anything that most of us wouldn’t have done were we in his shoes – he avoided further contact with Ben Wallace, tried to take it easy by lying down, didn’t actually hit anybody until there was good reason [i.e. idiots in the crowd who were antagonizing him, especially the tough guy who confronted him on the court], etc.) he is really not that bad o####uy.  He is a very intense individual who wears his emotions on his sleeve and will do anything to win (I still remember when he pulled down Paul Pierce’s shorts to get into his head, and FYI he is the only player I have seen who can shut Paul down on a consistent basis which is not surprising) and I think people are somewhat afraid of that.  I think that Donnie Walsh, Larry Bird, Rick Carlisle, and whoever else wants to be involved should have a sit down with Ron and let him know his importance to the team (the under-appreciation seems like his main qualm right now) and also let him know that they will try to do whatever they can to make him happy in Indiana as long as it doesn’t jeopardize the rest of the team.  This seems like a quarrel that has been blown out of proportion and after all that the Pacers have put up with when it comes to Ron Artest, it just doesn’t seem rational to trade him because of a situation like this.  Don’t trade Ron. 

Uncle Tom McNabb?

This whole thing is outrageous.  This character J. Whyatt Mondesire has to be the biggest turkey in America right now.  Check out these absurd comments:  Mondesire wrote that McNabb's tendency to run the ball early in his career "not only confused defenses, it also thrilled Eagles fans," but that abandoning that element "by claiming that ‘everybody expects black quarterbacks to scramble’ not only amounts to a breach of faith but also belittles the real struggles of black athletes who've had to overcome real racial stereotypcasting in addition to downright segregation."

 Would it be possible for anyone to do an exorcism on J. Whyatt Mondesire so that we can extract the spirit of Rush Limbaugh from him?  These could possibly be the most unnecessary, senseless comments since somebody at the Sony studios uttered the phrase, “I’ve got it!  We can make a sequel to Starship Troopers!”  I would also like to propose an embargo on anybody trying to accuse other African-Americans of not “being black enough” with a name that sounds anything like J. Whyatt Mondesire (I’m sorry, I had to say it).  In other news, NAACP CEO Bruce Gordon would like to thank Mr. Mondesire for setting the NAACP back a couple of years.  I am still struggling to understand why Donovan McNabb, a stand up individual, has to deal with so much nonsense on an almost daily basis.  This guy is like a magnet for stuff like this, and none of it ever seems to be his doing.  I wonder why people didn’t talk more about the old Michael Vick “Ron Mexico” story (for those who didn’t hear about this, Michael Vick was apparently using the alias Ron Mexico when he wanted to get intimate with girls [girls who he didn’t want to find out about certain diseases that he may or may not have had] when he was back in Virginia as a youth) and things of that nature.  At least Vick did that to himself and it had some comic value (the NFL actually banned customized Falcons #7 “Mexico” jerseys, I think that’s priceless).  This is just piling onto a good guy, I would appreciate it if we could pick a new quarterback to terrorize.  Maybe we could get a weekly thing going where we just make crazy comments about quarterbacks from around the NFL, past and present.  I have next week’s QB…

 “How about this guy Stoney Case?  He is not showing the poise that he possessed at the University of New Mexico, when he used to throw bunches of touchdowns while limiting his interceptions.  He was a martyr for white quarterbacks everywhere.  Now he is a disgrace to white players everywhere.  He threw 7 interceptions in one game.  White quarterbacks are supposed to take pride in their culture and show poise in the pocket, while maintaining a good TD to INT ratio.  He didn’t even try to run at all, instead he decided to perpetuate the preconceived notion that white quarterbacks cannot run.  I can’t believe this.  This is a disgrace and a setback to white football players everywhere.”

 The immortal Stoney Case

 I don’t think I need to say anymore about this McNabb debacle other than the fact that I’m glad he spoke up this time.  He is a class act who usually chooses to ignore nonsense like this, but in this case, I felt it was a great choice for him to strike back against J. Bozo Mondesire.  To tell you the truth I’m borderline ashamed to be giving a fool like Mondesire the time of day and including him in my blog, but I had to chime in on this. 

 

Coming soon... my thoughts on the Sex Boat
 

Adam Morrison is a great college basketball player right now, and although it is GREAT to see a player from the West of the Mississippi getting some pub, I cannot enjoy his game as much as I would like to at the moment, because the media won’t let him be his own man.  Morrison is the next in a line of a countless amount of tall white wing players who have been, at one time or another, compared to Larry Legend.  I have grown sick of some of the folks in the media picking a new white player over 6’5” every couple of years and labeling him "The Next Larry Bird". 

 Adam Morrison has a hell of an offensive game (sans passing), a similar body type and shot to Bird, deceptive quickness for his size and amazing off the ball movement, so the comparison in this case is more understandable and stronger than most players in recent memory; but Morrison still needs to up his all around game (D, passing, etc.) before Bird is a realistic comparison.  I cannot see this man putting up big numbers on a consistent basis at the 3 spot in the NBA for many reasons.  I respect Morrison as much as the next guy, but I just cannot see it right now, despite the fact that the media is hyping him up more than “Irish” Terry Conklin. 

 I disliked this whole likening Morrison to Bird thing last year, but now that he keeps getting better, the Bird comparisons are continuing to grow stronger, and it's bad news.  Where are all the comparisons to guys like Mike Miller, Chris Crawford, Keith Van Horn, Christian Laettner, Tom Chambers or Wally Szczerbiak.  There have been

 The human version of A. Morrison.

other solid white players in the NBA, and yes, some of them did actually have a game similar to
Adam Morrison’s.  Not to mention the fact that it seems as if people refuse to liken Morrison and most other white players to black players when making these comparisons (but that’s a whole ‘nother story and I would like to stay on this topic for the time being, for the record, I think a great comparison for Morrison would be Big Dog Glenn Robinson).  I don't know why, when making these comparisons, people feel the urge to skip over all of the other tiers of solid NBA players straight to Larry Bird, a legend and a hall of famer, as a comparison.   I believe that before making any comparisons to Larry Bird are made, unless the player is the college basketball equivalent to Michael Vick in Madden 2004, players who haven't played a game in the NBA should not be compared to Larry Bird.  After all, playing in the NBA can be quite the adjustment (see: the aforementioned Chris Crawford and Christian Laettner).  As a sidenote, I would like Adam to shave the pre-teen mustache if he wants to be taken seriously in the L.

 In closing, I implore all the journalists, scouts, and whoever else is making these comments to please put the Bird comparisons in their pocket until the white LeBron James comes around.  Larry Bird was a once in a lifetime player, and he is also the man who uttered the following, "I just didn't want a white guy guarding me, because it's disrespect to my game."  I can’t see another player like him coming along for a very long time, and although we would all enjoy seeing another Larry Bird, it doesn't mean we have to be so hasty in throwing his name around.