David Stern’s Comments – Phoenix Suns’ fan know the type of person NBA Commissioner David Stern can be. After all, he’s the guy who suspended Suns’ Amare Stoudemire and Boris Diaw for Game 5 of the 2007 NBA Playoffs for being human beings and simply stepping onto the court when their teammate was shoved into the scorer’s table by an opponent. At the time of the suspensions, Suns’ Coach Mike D’Antoni commented, “We have the most powerful microscopes and telescopes in the world in Arizona, you could use those instruments and not find a shred of fairness or common sense in that decision. That’s kind of how it feels. It really benefits no one. It doesn’t benefit us, obviously. It doesn’t benefit the Spurs. It doesn’t benefit the fans. It doesn’t benefit the NBA.” Yes, that David Stern.
Yesterday, Stern was at it again. On the Jim Rome talk-radio show, Rome asked a question that has been on everybody’s mind for weeks, “Was the fix in for the lottery?” Now remember, this is a state of affairs the NBA created for itself. In a rare situation in which the league owned the New Orleans Hornets for over a year now, the NBA has had plenty of time to sell the Hornets and avoid such potential line of questioning. Only the league didn’t sell the team prior to the lottery selection and the Hornets happened to win it – so Rome asked Stern the obvious question. Initially, Stern handled it calmly and professionally – responding, “Uh, you know, I have two answers for that. I’ll give you the easy one – no – and a statement: Shame on you for asking.” Stern should have left it at that… but of course he didn’t. After bickering with Rome over whether or not the question was a fair one to even ask, Stern fired at Rome, “Have you stopped beating your wife yet?” Excuse me…rewind!
While Stern was simply trying to throw a loaded question back at Rome for what he felt was a loaded question thrown his direction, one can only imagine how far the NBA’s public relations director spit his/her coffee upon hearing the comments. First of all, Rome’s question wasn’t necessarily loaded. Rome did not ask, “So how long have you been fixing the lottery?” That would have been loaded. Second of all, for all of the rhetorical questions Stern could have thrown one back at Rome, he uses one involving the sensitive issue of domestic violence? Really?
For a commissioner who has gone great lengths to clean up his league’s ‘gangster’ image, are there any more damning words Stern could have spoken to hurt his image? If Stern really cared about the image of the NBA, he should worry less about how his players dress and more about the own venom coming out of his mouth. Such irrational and unnecessary comments about ‘beating one’s wife’ make Commissioner Stern look like the biggest thug of all.
Floyd Mayweather – Not sure if you heard yesterday, but World-Champion boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr requested that he be released from jail because the low-quality of food and water is threatening his health. Thankfully, the judge denied his request and ordered him to fulfill his 90-day sentence. Mayweather, known for his defensive style of boxing, couldn’t dodge the long dick of the law on this one.
Mayweather’s request reminds me of the Saturday Night Live skit where Will Farrell plays Dale Sturtevant in a skit called Dissing Your Dog. In the skit, Farrell’s spoiled dog is unhappy with his food choices and refuses to eat his dinner. Farrell sarcastically apologizes to the dog for not serving him ‘prime rib’, and then says – “But keep in mind, you’re a f*cking dog!” I’m not sure if Mayweather knows it, but newsflash – he’s a f*cking criminal! Floyd, if you don’t want shitty food and limited space for 90 days, how about you don’t plead guilty in connection with domestic violence? Jail is meant to be a deterrent for tough guys like you who plead guilty to striking females in front of their children. When you admit to doing such a ghastly thing, you don’t get to live the lavished lifestyle you’re used to. Time to serve your sentence. Money can’t buy you out of this one.
Boston Celtics – Was there anything more undeserving than the amount of credit the aging Boston Celtics received for almost making the NBA Finals. After all, this is the same Celtics team that got to face the Dwight Howard-less Orlando Magic in the first round, the mediocre 8th seed Philadelphia 76ers in the second round (who were only there because Derrick Rose got injured), and then got to face the Chris Bosh-less Miami Heat for most of the Eastern Conference Finals. The Celtics did not play against a complete, solid team the entire playoffs until games 6 and 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals – they lost both.
Hopefully for Celtics’ fans, this fortunate run deep into the playoffs does not give the front office any illusions of grandeur. This is an aging roster that needs to be broken up. Letting Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett leave for cap space and trading Paul Pierce for a young core player to partner with Rajon Rando and Jeff Green would be best thing going forward. The last thing you want as a Celtics’ fan is to bring back the same team, and for your aging roster to hobble into the playoffs and get smacked in the first round next year. At least after this year’s deep (lucky) playoff run, Celtics’ fans can say goodbye to their stars on a high note.
That’s that.
