« November 2006 | Main | January 2007 »
Everyday, I am amazed by something new.
Today, I am amazed because "The Knack," who had a big hit with the pop song "My Sharona," has enough material to issue an album called "The Best of the Knack." Not only that, but it has 17 tracks on it, and only one of them is "My Sharona."
The North Carolina Bar has filed ethics charges against Durham County District Attorney Mike Nifong for his handling of the faux rape charges brought against three Duke University lacrosse players.
As Duke law professor James Coleman said before the ethics charges were filed, "It's either total incompetence or it's misconduct on a scale that is extraordinary."
I disagree. I believe there is plenty of both to go around.
The college football bowl game formerly known as the Sun Bowl has acquired a title sponsor. The game is known as the Brut Sun Bowl.
Brut narrowly outbid Hai Karate for the sponsorship.
The Duke lacrosse faux-rape case is a high-profile example of the government abusing its power. Durham County District Attorney Mike Nifong is an unusual combination of incompetent, ambitious and corrupt.
I take that back. The government is full of people with those characteristics. Some have even made it to the Office of the President. (See Nixon, Richard M.)
Araphoe County, Colorado, District Attorney Carol Chambers can join the list. She has been publicly censured by a three judge panel for misusing the
power of her office to intimidate a lawyer trying to collect a debt from an Englewood councilwoman Chambers knew,
according to the Rocky Mountain News.
Government officials like Chambers and Nifong represent bad people doing an important job. All DA's do not abuse their discretion for their own purposes. Chambers and Nifong do.
The only practical check on these people is the ballot box. Vote 'em, and all like 'em, out of office.
***
The only thing worse than an incompetent, ambitious and corrupt public official is a competent, ambitious and corrupt official. The competent ones do not get caught. They amass power. They amass money. They abuse their power and get away it.
How do we deal with these government officials? Do not trust the government. Do not trust it to decide who to execute in a criminal case, do not trust it to plow the snow off your streets. The more trust you give it, the more the trust will be abused.
The more discretion you give any government official, the more that discretion will be abused. Not by everybody, but by some. Those some ruin it for everybody.
Bronco quarterback Jay Cutler explained to ESPN's John Clayton why he and fellow rookie Tony Sheffler get along so well:
"I roomed with Tony during the preseason and he has great hands," Cutler said.
Altitude is the name of the local sports network that carries the Nuggets games. And I am watching from my couch as the Allen Iverson era begins for the Nuggets as they host the Kings.
AI joining the Nuggets is major sporting news in Denver, but did we really need coverage of Iverson getting off the plane? A cameraman was told by his boss to go to the airport and wait until Iverson’s plane landed and to get footage of him deplaning. It has been said that there are no such things as small jobs. I think that has now been disproved.
Starting center Marcus Camby is out tonight and for a few weeks with a broken finger. Chris Marlowe, Altitude play-by-play man, asked color guy Scott Hastings how the absence of Camby would affect the Nuggets. Without waiting to hear from the former NBA player, I knew the answer: Negatively.
AI got off the bench at about 3:45. He entered the game at 3:25, with the Kings up 17-16. The ovation started as soon as he stood up, and the crowd cheered wildly whenever he touched the ball.
He is playing the point, and Earl Boykins moved over to the off guard spot.
He took his first shot at the 1:26 mark of the first quarter. He made it. He took his second shot with 23 remaining in the quarter. He made it, too. Hastings predicted that if AI never missed a shot, the Nuggets “would win a lot of games.”
AI’s streak ends as the second quarter begins. He has a three point attempt blocked. That will not make the highlight reel.
The Nuggets have eight guys available. But Ivan McFarlin, the throw-in from Philly in the Iverson trade, is not on the roster. Where is he? Not that I expect him to play, but if three guys foul out, the Nuggets will have no subs available. It pays to look ahead.
The Nuggets are sloppier than a two year old eating chili. Without a spoon. I guess playing without your two leading scorers, your starting center and a point guard that has yet to practice with the team can make a team a little sloppy.
As the first half ends, the Nuggets have a fast break that is whistled dead because of a flagrant foul on the Kings.
The NBA should go to a delayed penalty like the NHL. Even soccer will let the offensive team "play on" if the defense commits a foul while the offense has an advantage. In the NFL, the offense gets to finish the play if the defense commits a foul, and pick either the penalty or the play. Not so in the NBA. A player could be going in for a dunk, get slapped on the wrist, and have to shoot two free throws instead of a dunk. That is ridiculous.
Join my crusade for the delayed basketball penalty. If the defense commits a foul, the ref raises his hand (like in the NHL) and does not stop play unless the defense gains possession. If the offense scores, the play is not stopped and the foul is not called. If the offense loses possession, play is stopped and the foul is called.
This way, the defense never gains an advantage by fouling and the game has fewer stoppages.
Nothing changes if the player is fouled in the act of shooting and makes it. The points count, and the shooter gets a free throw. If he misses it, his team will either get the offensive rebound and score anyway, or he will get the free throws as soon as the fouling team gains possession.
It is beautiful in its simplicity.
This half time break was brought to you by The Committee for a Delayed NBA Foul.
Back to the action. The Nuggets are down 42-45 at the half. AI scored 7 first half points.
AI dives for a loose ball during the third quarter. He does not get the ball, but he forces a King turnover. You gotta love the new guy.
My wife comments on the Kings' yellowish jerseys with blue script. She says they must have used a Coors can as a template.
The Nuggets take the lead on an Iverson pass to Linas Kleiza on a fastbreak. We like the new guy.
Nuggets retake the lead on back-to- back three pointers by the new guy. The Pepsi Center goes crazy. They like the new guy.
Near the end of the third quarter, King Corliss Williamson gets a technical foul for "complaining about something Reggie Evans did," according to Hastings. I hope he did not re-enact his Brockeback moment with Chris Kaman from a year ago.
At the end of the third quarter, the Nuggets have the lead, 77-73. The new guy has 19 of them. He is not the leading scorer, however. The only guy on the court shorter than him, Earl Boykins, has 20.
Nugget Eddie Najera fouls out with 4:47 left in the game and the Kings up 85-84. Nuggets are down to seven players. Where is Ivan McFarlin?
DID YOU KNOW? Najera is the only Mexican citizen in the entire NBA, and he es muy guapo.
The Nuggets can not regain the lead with El Guapo on the bench, and the AI era begins with a loss, 101-96.
The new guy scored 22 points and dished out 10 assists. Not too shabby for a guy that has not played in over two weeks and has not practiced with his new team.
Things will improve, especially once Carmelo Anthony, J.R. Smith and Marcus Camby return to the lineup.
Two plus feet of snow have closed Denver for a day and a half. I live in a residential area, and I think my street is due to be plowed in April. The snow has made side streets nigh on impassable, and the post office is not delivering mail.
I can solve both problems. Slap a plow on the front of the mail trucks. Thus, residential areas get plowed AND the mail gets delivered.
The blizzard hitting Colorado right now has helped the Nuggets.
Tonight's game with the streaking Suns has been postponed. The Suns are on a 15 game winning streak and the Nuggets have a depleted roster.
Carmelo Anthony and J.R. Smith are still serving suspensions for participating in the Mayhem at Madison Square Garden Saturday night. While Nene has served his one game suspension, Andre Miller and Joe Smith have been traded to Philadelphia and have left town. The 76ers that will replace them, Allen Iverson and Ivan McFarlin, are not in Denver.
That leaves the Nuggets with seven players to take on the hottest team in the league. When the game is rescheduled, the Nuggets will have a full roster, including the two highest scorers in league - Melo and AI - and the Nuggets second leading scorer right now - J.R. Smith.
They'll have a much better chance then than they would have had tonight.
One game might not seem like a lot, but it could be the difference between having the home court advantage in any given playoff series or not.
If the Nuggets eventually win the game, they can thank Old Man Winter. Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow. (That is, as long as the airport opens in time to get AI to town by Friday night when the Nuggets take on the Kings.)
Today is an exciting day to be a Denver sports fan.
The Denver Nuggets have acquired Allen Iverson from the Philadelphia 76ers. They gave up Andre Miller, Joe Smith (not the Mormon prophet – the former # 1 overall pick) and two first round draft picks.
Miller, the best player the Nuggets gave up, plays the same position as AI, so losing him is no big deal. Joe Smith rarely plays. The draft picks are birds in a bush. AI is a point guard in hand.
And what a point guard he is. At 31, he’s in his prime. He is under contract for this year and two more. He is also the second leading scorer in the entire league.
Some have raised the question of whether or not AI and Carmelo Anthony, the Nuggets’ current star and the leading scorer in the league, can successfully co-exist on one team. I think they can.
No team has two great defenders. For instance, San Antonio's Bruce Bowen has to decide if he is going to guard AI or Melo. The other will score. A lot.
AI wants to win a championship. He has all the individual awards he needs. He has no championship ring. He can win one in Denver with Melo.
Shaquille O’Neal deferred to Dwyane Wade in Miami and won another ring.
Earl Monroe was dealt to the Knicks in the '70's and people said the flamboyant, high scoring guard would not get along with the Knicks' equally flamboyant and high scoring guard Walt Frazier. They got along. They won the 1973 championship.
Two alpha dog scorers can get along, as long as winning is a higher priority than scoring. If both AI and Melo make that commitment, they will succeed.
There are no guarantees it will work. The move is a gamble. But it is a great gamble.
I have never really been sure what the question was, but I know The Answer is in Denver.
I changed my mind on Carmelo Anthony’s punch. He did not sucker punch anybody. He was face to face with his victim who was looking right at him.
However, he still ran away like a little girl after he threw the punch.
==
I’ve heard some commentators defend Melo’s punch by saying, in effect, a man has to be a man, and if he is disrespected, he should throw down.
Even assuming we are dealing with Neanderthals, this argument makes no sense. Melo is a professional basketball player. By “protecting his manhood” or “defending his teammate” by throwing a punch, Melo knew he would be suspended.
As it turns out, he will miss 15 games.
What is more important, whipping out your unit and showing how big it is, or winning basketball games?
If you chose the former, congratulations. Everyone will know you have a big penis and swinging balls. You are also a loser as you sit out games in which you could be participating.
If you chose the latter, you are a winner. You keep the size of your unit private, as it should be, and you continue to help your team win games.
To quote The Geto Boys, “Real gangsta ass niggas don’t flex nuts, ‘cause real gangsta ass niggas know they got ‘em.”
=====
I do not understand three aspects of David Stern’s suspensions.
First, what did Nugget J.R. Smith do to warrant a ten game suspension? He was the victim. He was fouled hard and knocked to the ground on a layup my Mardy Collins. Smith instinctively jumped up and approached Collins. Yes, he was mad, but he did not throw a punch or otherwise touch Collins. Then Knick Nate Robinsons tackled him and they ended up in the front row of seats.
Second, why were both teams fined the same amount? The Knicks started it on orders of their coach.
Third, why was Isiah Thomas not punished at all? He can be seen on tape warning Melo not to go in the paint just before the fight started. He inserted Mardy Collins, the last guy on the bench, who then committed assault on J.R. Smith going up for a dunk.
David Stern is not stupid, so I have no idea what his motivation is for letting Thomas off the hook.
===
Some have asked why basketball fights are such a big deal when fights occur almost every game in the NHL.
The difference is that hockey fights are always one on one. This hockey tradition is deeply ingrained. The “third man in” a fight is almost non-existent in the NHL. When it happens, the third man is always severely punished by the league.
In every other league, a two man fight almost always denigrates into a bench clearing brawl.
I hate to say it, but Carmelo Anthony acted like a punk Saturday night against the Knicks.
He sucker punched a Knick, then he ran away. I sincerely hope he apologizes for his behavior. Team leaders do not act like Melo did in this game. The fight was all but over, and Melo hits a guy to make a bad situation worse.
UPDATE: Melo has issued a statement apologizing for his role in the fight.
The NFL's Arizona Cardinals play in the University of Phoenix Stadium.
I did not know the University of Phoenix even had a football team.
The Air Force Academy Athletic Director, Hans Mueh, is looking to fill the Academy's recently vacated head coaching position.
Who is on his "shortlist?" Mueh said that ""My shortlist is every coach in the NCAA."
Mueh does not want to dally in making a decision: "In my perfect world, I would love to have this done before the holidays."
Since Christmas is in nine days, he might want to whittle that shortlist down to an even shorter one.
The Colorado Rockies traded their best starting pitcher, Jason Jennings, to the Houston Astros for centerfielder Willy Taveras and pitchers Taylor Buchholz and Jason Hirsh.
Jennings will be a free agent after this year. He has earned, and will get, a big contract. Neither Taveras, Buchholz nor Hirsh will be free agents any time soon. They are young players with potential. Most importantly, they are cheap.
Rockies General Manager Dan O'Dowd says this is just a coincidence. O'Dowd claims, "This is a trade we would've made whether Jennings was a free agent at the end of the year or signed for two more years."
There is a technical, legal term for statements like that: Bullcrap.
The Rockies pay lip service to developing young talent for the long term. In reality, they have become the Montreal Expos of the new millenium. They groom young players, let them play for a few years, then let them ago when they become eligible for market value. The Expos, of course, are now defunct.
The Rockies are just irrelevant.
Gregg Easterbrook, ESPN.com's Tuesday Morning Quarterback, on Bronco coach Mike Shanahan's official team biography:
... the 3,795-word gag-me-with-a-spoon official team bio of Denver's "executive vice president of football operations and head coach," Mike Shanahan. According to the official bio, Shanahan is a "key leader" of "elite status" who is "ultra-impressive" and possesses an "exceptional talent" leading to a "stunning record" that puts him in an "exclusive club" plus has "dynamic drive" and has achieved "an almost unparalleled level of success" in "an atmosphere of great pressure and expectations" during "magnificent seasons" that made the Broncos the "perfect symbol" and is "arguably the finest head coach" with "one of the most brilliant minds in football" and has "one of the most dynamic minds" and is a "brilliant coach" who is the "most fertile football mind" who has "almost completely revitalized" his team while achieving "dramatic achievement" and is "dynamic" and "renowned" and gives "superb guidance" and stands "among the game's sideline greats" and is "universally regarded at the highest level" as "an ultimate leader." Move over Albert Einstein, Ernest Hemingway, Joan of Arc, Nelson Mandela -- you are flyspecks on the windshield of history compared to Mike Shanahan. Don't you get the feeling Shanahan personally supervised his bio? Hey, coach, people of genuine achievement don't have to boast.
That's why my official bio is short. Well, one of the reasons.
Denver Post sportswriter Natalie Meisler had this to say about the head football coaches at Air Force and Colorado State:
". . . legendary coaches Fisher DeBerry and Sonny Lubick, respectively, built powerhouse programs that have fallen on hard times . . ."
"Powerhouse progams?" Southern California, Ohio State, Alabama, Michigan, Florida and programs of that stature are "powerhouses." Air Force and Colorado State? Nope. Never.
As Inigo Montoya, in The Princess Bride, said about the use of a particular word, "I do not think it means what you think it means."
Lawrence Bell, of Greenwood Village, Colorado, had a letter to the editor published recently.
Mr. Bell believes he has made discovery about the United States Constitution. He proudly proclaims that "the term 'separation of church and state' is not in the Constitution." (Emphasis in original.)
Nope, it is not.
However, the term "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof" is in the Constitution. (My emphasis.)
The term "separation of church and state" is shorthand for that particular sentence, Mr. Bell.
Next time you peruse the document, look for what it says, not for what it does not say.
And how many people - Like Mr. Bell - really want no separation between church and state? Do they really want a state run church? Surely not. Most people complain about government bureaucracy. They do not want the same people running FEMA running their church.
In today's Rocky Mountain News, Erika Gonzalez laments Britney Spears' recent skanky ways.
Ms. Gonzalez wants Ms. Spears to clean up her act, and points to Christina Aguilera as an example of whom to emulate: "Consider Christian Aquilera, who with her piercings and crotchless chaps was once a walking billboard for stripper-wear."
Ms. Gonzalez fashion advice is unassailable, but her knowledge of cowboy lore is lacking.
All chaps are crotchless. Otherwise, they would be pants.
ESPN.com writer John Hollinger on Charlotte Bobcat rookie Adam Morrison:
Look, we knew he'd be fairly one-dimensional, but lordy. This guy makes Lara Flynn Boyle seem well-rounded.
Mr. Hollinger also has something to say about Denver Nugget Rookie Yakhouba Diawara:
The French swingman was advertised as a defensive specialist, which is a good thing because he's surely no offensive specialist.
Denerstein wrote that Gibson "has a tendency to treat violence and death with a bizarre (perhaps even twisted) sense of reverence."
How should one treat death? With a sense of disrespect and scorn?
Treating death with reverence seems appropriate to me.
The Nuggets blew a 17 point fourth quarter lead to the Atlanta Hawks last night at Pepsi Center and lost 98-96.
How did team leader Carmelo Anthony take it? According to Chris Tomasson of the Rocky Mountain News:
After the game, a frustrated Anthony took his jersey off and threw it into the stands. While in the hallway, he took off his rib protector and then his shorts, kicking his shorts down the corridor as he walked wearing just his Under Armor. Anthony did not make himself available to the media afterward.
Melo has to grow up. Leaders of professional athletes do not act like little kids. They act like men, leave there shorts on, and address the media. They do not throw a tantrum and hide from the mean people with tape recorders and notebooks.
This time, it is the left that has landed a solid blow to the body of the concept known as "freedom."
New York City has banned the use of trans fat by restaurants. The New York City council is smarter than its residents and knows what is best for them.
This encroachment on freedom is scary. It is not the government's fault. It is ours:
"I don't care about what might be politically correct and what's not," said Murray Bader, nursing a cup of coffee at Dunkin' Donuts on Tuesday morning. "I want to live longer!"
Well, Mr. Bader, why do you need the government to ban trans fats for you to stop eating them? You do not. Just do not eat them. If you really want to live longer, stay off the road. Move to a city with less crime. Do not take baths, you might slip, fall and break a hip.
Toni Lewis, while eating at McDonald's, demonstrates the double speak of those that favor government intrustion. She said, "This is New York. People eat out a lot. We don't have a choice."
You do not have a choice? In New York? Look a little harder, Ms. Lewis. And do not eat at McDonald's.
Tim Zagat, publisher of Zagat's restaurant guides, is also in favor of the ban. "You can't put lead in your food, right? With trans fats, you're not going to die as fast, but they are clearly bad for you and people don't even know when they're eating them."
First, if a restaurant put lead in its food, no one would buy it.
Second, if people don't know when they are eating them, it is not important to them. If it was important, they would know and they would stop of their own volition.
That is why freedom is so hard. It requires people to learn things and make judgments. Fascism, from the left or the right, is easy. The goverment tells you what to do. You do not have to worry about decisions. The government knows what is best.
Ms. Lewis added: "I welcome the intrusion." Good. More are coming.
If that concept does not scare you, nothing will.
