My aunt loves Dale Earnhardt and hates Jeff Gordon--which is a big part of why I like Gordon and why I think it's funny as hell that Jr. has signed with Hendrick. What I find more comical is that all of these people that pull for Junior because he's somehow a more authentic representation of what NASCAR is all about will now have to spend the rest of their lives loathing their worthless #8 tattoos and Bud garb. "He's a damn---" I'll spare the explitive--but just know that it's subbed for #### person frequently. And what does that say, then, that your driver isn't good enough to beat a, well we all get the point. The only thing that this move proves to me is that Junior wasn't lying when he said he wanted to win more and that he's not stupid nor influenced by his ridiculous fans. If you love Junior, fine, love him. But love him still now that he's teammed with Gordon and Co. Try this: Love Junior and his whole team. When Gordon wins, I'm happy. When Johnson or Busch or Mears win, I'm still satisfied. See if you have the guts for that. When Junior wins, be happy. When Gordon wins, out of respect for Junior if nothing else, see if you can cheer just as much. What benefits Gordon benefits Junior now. Besides, booing and throwing beer cans just makes you look like classless ####, and that's a reputation that is really getting tired.      

What a ringing endoresment for the NBA. The two best teams in basketball get together and the winner of Game 3 barely scores 70 points. Man, oh man, I love this game. Talk about pure excitement. And the kids these days say they don't like baseball because it's boring. Yeah, the NBA is really where you want to be. I've covered high school games where the teams have scored more points--in fewer minutes. And as for LeBron James and the analysts saying things like he's the team leader and the star player and all of that.."when is he going to step up and take control of this series?" Here's a better question: "when is a professional basketball player going to HIT AN OPEN SHOT?" Is there anyone reading this that can't find one person at a playground anywhere in this country that can't hit a wide, wait I mean, WIDE THE FREAK OPEN jump shot? The NBA...it's zzzzzzzzztastic! 

I didn't go to Duke, so my math skills are a little rough around the edges. Maybe someone can explain how Clemson got off a three-point basket and Duke called a subsequent timeout in just .6 seconds. Let me recap for those who didn't see the Clemson-Duke game: Clemson is down by 5 with time running out. The Tigers hit a lay up with :05 on the clock to cut the lead to 3. Duke inbounds the ball directly to a Clemson player and the clock doesn't start. He jumps in the air and releases the shot and the clock doesn't start. Shortly in the ball's flight, the clock finally starts. The ball falls through the net, tying the game at 66 with 3.8 seconds (or so) on the clock. Duke collects the ball and calls timeout, which was granted with 1.8 seconds on the clock. Sensing a timing error, the officials gather and change the time on the clock to 4.4 seconds. Duke inbounds, hurries the ball up the floor and hits the winning shot just as the buzzer goes off. And if that just isn't Duke in a nutshell, I don't know what is. I've never seen a team get so many things to break in their favor. For a minute I thought I saw the '72 Soviet Union on the floor. Red Devil. Blue Devil. Whatever. To put 4.4 seconds on the clock is to say the whole shot from Clemson, complete with the request for timeout, blowing of the whistle and stoppage of the clock took just .6 seconds. NASCAR should be so fast. Here's a question for those smart Duke kids--is it physically possible for a ball to soar 19 feet 9 inches and fall through a net in just over a half a second? Even in normal time, two solid seconds ran off the clock before Duke got a timeout. Best case, there should have been 3 seconds on the clock, assuming the shot took absolutely no time whatsoever, assuming that Duke had inbounded the ball directly into the basket, having made contact with someone only enough to actually start the clock in the first place. I would say there should have been at least a half second elapsed to jack the shot up in the first place, maybe as much as a second for the shot to go in, and two seconds for the timeout--that gives you 1.5 seconds and even that seems excessive. 1.8 seconds, which was the original amount left on the clock, seemed more than fair. Even if Duke argued it called timeout immediately and wasn't heard in the hoopla--which is a non-point, becuase reviewed time adjustments consider the timeout not when it is called, but from when the ref blows the whistle and raises his hand--the very best they should have had should have been 3.8 seconds, and that's calling and granting the timeout almost while the ball is still in the net. But like I said. I'm not that good at math. Glad to see I'm not alone.

 

I don't typically just post a question open endedly like this, but I honestly want to know. Which record bothers you more, Barry Bonds or Bobby Knight?

I know there are some people like me that don't care either way. I don't care if Bonds breaks the record of Aaron or not. To me the Hank Aaron record is a little like the Walter Payton rushing record. I hated that Emmitt Smith broke the mark at first, but then I realized that it was because he played for the Cowboys. Now, with some distance and a chance to shake my head at the fact that Smith danced his way back into the limelight, it doesn't bother me. I'm sure someone else will break Smith's record one day.

It would be easy to say that blah, blah Bonds and the record and steroids and fill in all the blanks, but that's not really true. The whole steroids thing to me is like the OJ case--you think something probably happened but there was not smoking gun, hardcore, no doubt evidence that sealed it up...at least that's what Bonds said in his new book, "Had I taken Steroids, This is how I would Have Taken Them." There are still a lot of people not 100% sold on the story, but that doesn't really matter. What the real deal comes down to is that certain people don't like Bonds. They are the same people that don't like Iverson, they don't like Owens, they don't like any player that stands out from the crowd for whatever reasons. You can throw people like John McEnroe in the pile or Deion Sanders. Some fans just don't like whatever vibe comes off of these guys, so they hate to see them succeed--whether through artificial means or otherwise. If baseball did a study and concluded that Bonds was the cleanest player to ever play the game, the amount of people pissed that he's on the verge of passing Hank Aaron would not shrink much.

The sam holds true for Bobby Knight, though the reasons people dislike Knight are a lot more obvious. I don't know if there is anyone that is a true Bobby Knight fan. Some people might like him or not dislike him fully,  but there might not be too many people that just love him unconditionally. As a Carolina fan, you'd think I'd be annoyed that he is about to pass Dean Smith. I'm not really. Smith coached five fewer seasons, so there is no comparison at all between the two. Had Smith continued to coach, Knight would have never caught him, nor would any other coach for that matter. His career mark would have been over 1,000 wins by now, which would be nearly double that of Coach K, who is the only other active coach at a legitimate shot of one day surpassing Knight. Does being the all-time leader in career wins make you a great coach? You can't, to a certain extent, take away what he has accomplished. However, Knight is precariously close to falling victim to Woody Hayes syndrome. Hayes might have gone down as one of the greats and certainly was a solid coach, but once you slide down that slope, it's hard to regain any sense of forgiveness. The slightest slip now and Knight might not be considered great by anyone, even if he wins 2,000 games in his career.

Like I said, it doesn't bother me one way or the other. Records are not really a measure of much. The person is really what people will remember when everything is said and done.

Hey Boston, now that you have a Japanese player, it might help if you knew a little bit about Japanese culture. I'm not from Japan nor am I Japanese, but I grew up with Japanese neighbors, studied Japanese in elementary school and have had a long fascination with Japanese baseball.

The first thing to know is that you shouldn't have to worry much about the ethic of your new pitcher, Diasuke Matsuzaka. Like the company is all-important to Japanese workers, the team is all-important to Japanese players. The success of the team reflects well on them. It's like going to Harvard or BU. The students may or may not add to the reputation of the school, but the benefit greatly from the reputation. Japanese are the same. When the team is respected as being good, they are satisfied. Matsuzaka will almost certainly put the team before himself. Just look at Ichiro--sure he came over and had a reputation as being flashy or whatnot, but in the end, his game is totally geared towards getting on base--unless the bases have runners, then he switches up and tried to drive the ball.

Next, many Japanese learn English in school, but it's very much like kids in America learning Spanish. It's not safe to assume Matsuzaka knows fluent English--even if you've heard him use some in press conferences. Japanese society is concerned with properness and it wouldn't be proper to go to America to play baseball and not learn one stitch of English. That would be rude and impolite. The effort is much more important--speaking broken English is better than not even trying. Therefore, if you ever have a chance to meet Matsuzaka, you can say the following phrase (broken down phoenetically): Ego-ga, wakathe-mas-ka. That just means, do you speak English. There is a weird blend in the middle of the wakathemaska part. The 'the' is really more of a D sound that seems squished nearly into the way people from England say "the". Hopefully he'll say yes and you can continue in English. As I said, the effort is all-important, so even if he speaks fluent English, he'll appreciate the fact that you tried to speak a little Japanese.

Finally, since we Americans have already rounded off his first name to sound like "Dice K" it made me think of somthing from my youth. The "Dice" automatically flashes me to old performances by Andrew Dice Clay. If one of you Sox fans doesn't have the creativity to fashion a studded leather jacket that spells out Dice Man on the back and wear it every time he pitches, then you are forever out of the baseball fraternity. Sure, people will make dice or start bringing fuzzy dashboard dice or whatever, but get out your damn glue gun and get busy. Three months is plent of time to make yourself a Dice Man jacket. Also, Fenway PA guy, I hope you're reading, every time Matsuzaka strikes someone out, you had better play a clip from Dice Clay, like the familiar "shaddup!" or the ever-famous, "OH!" The rest of the baseball world can't do it, Boston. He's your pitcher now.

Dear #### Athletes,

As a rational human being with the capacity for both logic and common sense, I would like to share with you a few tips on furthering your career.

First, try to refrain from riding motorcycles. It seems many of you really suck at riding them and a suit of armor would not be enough to protect you from your feable skills. See, powerful motorcycles take graduating. Try riding a Spree or Vespa, then trade up to recreational dirt bike, then a Honda circa 1985, and so on. You can't just jump on a top of the line motorcylcle and think you can ride it like Evel Knievel--I might point out that even the skilled Mr. Knievel had a spectacular crash or two from time to time.

I would further recommend the use of a helmet when you do ride, which, again, I don't suggest. NFL types wear helmets all the time, which pays off when being blasted by a middle linebacker. You should be advised that an '83 Buick hits a lot harder than Ray Lewis. A LOT harder.

If you attend Duke University--Bobby Hurley, Jay Williams, I'm looking in your direction--you maybe should consider taking a driver's training course. Driving is an acquired skill and not nearly as easy as the chauffeur makes it look. It's just like your sport. Practice makes perfect.

I understand this is a lot to take in, but I didn't even touch on striking women, hanging out with shady individuals, having large raves in mansions that have shot guns nearby, or ingesting various toxins that give you temporary remedy from a variety of ails. Further, I realize that you might not know that you're an #### athlete because, well, you're an ####. Here is a simple test to judge your risk factors: Did you leave college early or skip college completely to pursue a career in professional sports and have not subsequently returned to earn your degree? If you answered yes, there is a strong chance you could be an #### athlete. Seek help from a trusted medical professional. IA is curable and often decreases with age, but it is a serious ailment and should be treated as such.

Thank you and best of luck in your chosen field of endeavor.

I'm stuck. Half of my family is from the Carolinas. However, the Edmonton Oilers are the first team I ever followed when I first started watching hockey. I still have a place in my heart for the Oil, and part of that reason is the empassioned fans of Edmonton always impressed me.

Of course, never was that more evident than last night's Cup game. Given the state of affairs internationally, foreign countries could make a pretty decent case for paying the American national anthem little to no respect. But the folks in Edmmonton didn't go that route. In fact, many of the people in the stands sang along--a feat I doubt many Americans could do in reverse. I've heard Oh, Canada enough as a result of watching sports over the years that I might come close, but I doubt I could pull it off completely.

But that was nothing compared to when the Canadian national anthem began. "Ladies and gentlemen, here to sing the Canadian national anthem, you guys..." 18,000 people singing Oh, Canada at full volume and in perfect harmony something to behold. I wonder if an American crowd of the same size could sing the Star Spangled Banner as well.

I'd say we, as Americans, could learn a few things about national pride from our friends in Edmonton, but that very often seems like an impossible notion for Americans to digest. Us? Inferior to something non-American in some way? When was the last time out security forces broke up a domestic terror ring? Something to think about while you drive to work in your Honda.

So let me guess, the oh so clever fans of the Arizona Diamondbacks are going to boo when Barry Bonds comes up during their series this week. I don't blame you. Everyone else in the league has been doing it. You guys did it the first time the Giants came to Arizona. No sense in trying something different.

Whatever. I'm not going to try to sway ideologies and change minds. I simply want you to realize that as you boo Bonds, you boo yourself. Rest assured, Jason Grimsley isn't the first skeleton in a MLB clubhouse closet and he won't be the last. That goes for the rst of you--Cubs fans, Cardinals fans, Marlins fans...everyone. There is a Grimsley on your roster, too. You just don't know it yet. So keep booing, as long as you realize you are a greater and greater hypocrite with each passing boo.

Hypocrisy. I'll give you an example: Oakland A's fans booing Bonds vigorously then standing and cheering when he hit #714, giving him a curtain call as if he were the most beloved player in the game.

Stick to your game. Boo if you want, as long as you realize what it says about you. And if you boo, don't then stand and cheer as if you don't have a principled bone in your body.