Stephon Backs Off Vick Support

Well that didn't take long. I guess Dolan or Isiah called to tell him to recant, because clearly Stephon's not smart enough on his own.

Marbury's Lucky Vick Doesn't Own the Knicks

Ah Stephon, once again you have graced us with your wisdom. In an article in Newsday yesterday it was reported that Marbury said in an interview aired by Capital 9 News in Albany. "From what I hear, dogfighting is a sport. It's just behind closed doors and I think it's tough that we build Michael Vick up and then we break him down ... I think he fell into a bad situation."

Truly amazing. I can imagine he's trying to defend Michael Vick's indefensible actions. Why, I can only speculate. Maybe they're friends, maybe he's just trying to show solidarity with another black athlete who came from humble beginnings. But it's one thing to ask as others have (including the head of the Atlanta chapter of the NAACP) that IF Vick is contrite and IF he abides by the provisions of his plea deal that he be given another chance to play in the NFL.

But to say that dogfighting is a legitimate sport and to imply that Vick "fell" into this situation is completely absurd. First of all dogfighting is illegal. Pitting to animals, who have no ability to determine their own actions, against each other in a fight to the death is horrific, despicable, reprehensible and an affront to most people's sensibilities of right and wrong -- Black or White. And for all those that try to make the Vick case simply about race is similarly distasteful.

Secondly, Vick did not "fall into" dogfighting. He had been actively involved in it since at least 2001. His friends did not bring him into this unknowingly or unwillingly. Vick funded the entire endeavor. He paid for the dogs, paid for the kennels, the "training" pits. And he of course was directly involved in gambling on these illegal fights which is also illegal activity.

Lastly, Marbury also improperly compared dogfighting to hunting. I am not a hunter. I only kill bugs. But hunting is totally different. Yes the end result is the same -- the animal dies -- but the intention and method behind it is completely different. Hunting is done for sport, but in almost all cases, it's also tied to maintaining a proper balance of the animal population, the kill is quick and hunter's typically eat what they kill or sell it to someone who will (unless you're Dick Cheney). What Vick did -- hanging, drowning, electrifying dogs who lost a fight -- is TORTURE. There's no sport involved.

BTW, there was a great chat with Howard Bryant from ESPN that discussed a lot of these issues. Check it out. But let me wrap up.

Marbury should just be happy that Vick doesn't own the Knicks. Because based on Marbury's level of play and the awful record he has led them to (and just about every other team that he has played for), Vick would probably have electrocuted him too.

From TNT to Riding the "T"

I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw the headline on ESPN.com that Reggie Miller was contemplating a comeback...with the Boston Celtics. So many things crossed my mind, like:
* "Reggie, you're 42, stay behind the mike"
* "Reggie, on the Celtics?"
* "What's Spike Lee thinking right now. Definitely having nightmares."
* "What the hell is Ainge thinking?"

I know that Reggie would only play for 15 minutes a game. I'm sure he can still stroke it. And he still wants a ring. It's not crazy, it's just impossible to get my mind around Reggie Miller wearing the Green. Or any colors other than Yellow and Blue. Mind boggling.

Almost as mind boggling is the about face that the Celtics have made to their roster. Last year they had a bunch of kids (not counting Ratliff, but who would). This year, they average age of the team might be 10 YEARS older than last year...even without Reggie. I guess PJ Brown can't be far behind. I wonder what kind of coverage Harvard Pilgrim has for broken hips. With guys that old on the squad, it's probably worth investigating.

But how great would it be to see Reggie lay another 9 points in 22 seconds on the Knicks to knock Isiah's crew out of the playoffs. I guess we may find out. Celtics-Knicks are scheduled on April 14th. Second to last game of the season. I love it. Spike, sweet dreams.

"Never Again" is not just a slogan

Recently I was reading the Boston Globe and saw an article about a situation in Watertown, MA. What I read was confusing and concerning.

The short story is that there is a very good project going on in Watertown called "No Place to Hate". The concept is that the residents of the town set up an expectation within the community that racism or any sort of targeting of religious, social or sexual groups will not be tolerated. A very good goal indeed. One of the main sponsors of this program, not surprisingly is the Anti-Defamation League (ADL). The ADL is generally a force for good. The title bar of their website pretty much sums up what they stand for: Fighting Anti-Semitism, Bigotry and Racism.

But here's where the story takes an odd turn. There's a lot of upset people in Watertown, and the anger is directed at the ADL. The reason was stunning to me. A sizable segment of the local population is Armenian-American. And there has been a long-running dispute between the Armenians and Turkey about recognizing the massacre of Armenians by the Ottoman Empire during WWI as genocide. Many, but not all countries have recognized the events during that time as genocide.

The recognition of the genocide became an issue in Watertown because the Armenian-American population asked the ADL to recognize the genocide and the ADL declined. The ADL did not deny the genocide, but they sidestepped the issue and said it was not their place to make the determination of what did or did not happen. That's not acceptable. Many countries have made the determination and so has the Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity.

As a Jew, I am thoroughly disgusted with this position. One of the reasons for the creation of the ADL was to ensure that the Holocaust against the Jews of Europe during WWII was not repeated again. Whatever reasons the ADL purports to have for staying out of the debate are crap. The core tentant of "Never Again" is that it does not just apply for Jews. "Never Again" is for any group. That's why the Jewish people stand up for the tragedy in Darfur, stood up with African-Americans against segregation and bigotry in the 60's and should stand up and be counted again in this discussion. The ADL would be all over a Holocaust denier and should not play a similar role in another "dispute" over history. Period, end of sentence.

I sincerely hope that Abraham Foxman and the ADL reconsider their position and reclaim the high road that they have been on for the past 90 years.

Brand Achilles Ruptured; Clips Season Scuttled

Absolutely terrible news for a great guy. Elton Brand is one of the best power forwards in the game and a great person. And by far the best player on the Clippers. Now after rupturing his achilles tendon he's out for 6 months. Elton, don't rush back. There's no reason. Get healthy and get ready for the 2008-09 season. Even if you can make it back in 6 months as reported, don't. By the time you take the court, the Clips will have already lost 30+ games. This year's Clips will be fighting history, trying not to have the worst record of all time.

What do Clipper fans have to look forward to this season. Corey Maggette will average 27 ppg, Tim Thomas will put up numbers that make up for last year's awful (but utterly predictable) season -- 18 & 7 are not unreasonable expectations. Chris Kaman should see some improved productivity too. We'll give him a mulligan for his sophmore slump campaign and hope he can move up to 15 & 11 with more space on the block. And without having to worry about win totals, we should see if Jared Jordan (a great second-round pick) is the next John Stockton or the next Dan Dickau. No reason to give Cassell 30+ mpg, especially in his walk year.

And the 08-09 season will see a lot of cap room for the Clips to reload with, probably close to $18M. Maybe more if they can move Maggette's expiring contract or better yet the Mobley and his last 2 years/$19M. And they're almost a mortal lock for a Top 3 pick (after this year, you can never say top pick), although there's no Durant or Oden to be found.

Titans DL Woes

I just had the "pleasure" of reading yet another article about how the Titans will be fine at DE with 4th year players Antwan Odom and Travis LaBoy. Not coincidentally, this is the 4th year of such articles. To paraphrase Rick Pitino's classic rant from 10 years ago as the Celtic's coach, "Jevon Kearse is not walking through that door." I get it. These guys aren't very good and are almost never healthy, but that's what we've got.

But it didn't have to be that way. Mike Reinfeldt, the Titans new GM can't be blamed for these failed second rounders. But at the same time, he can be blamed for not doing anything about it. Yes, the Titans had 12-year pro Simeon Rice in on Friday for a meeting/physical. But he's not the same player he was even three years ago. Reinfeldt had opportunities to address this during the draft (Anthony Spencer, Tim Crowder) or via free agency (Patrick Kearney). But instead we're staring at Odom and LaBoy again. And it's not like he hadn't thrown a Floyd Reese draft pick under the bus before. The Titans pick of Chris Henry in the 2nd round was a direct slap at the drafting of LenDale White just last year. I'm not saying I'm sold on White, but Henry was a HUGE REACH.

But I'll go a step farther. Reinfeldt's draft was terrible. Sure Michael Griffin is a good player and after I had a few minutes to calm down after they passed on several good WRs, I was happy at the pick. LaMont Thompson sucks and they needed a good FS to start opposite Hope. I felt good about the secondary, even with the PacMan situation. I liked both Finnegan and Hill. But then to try to convert this guy to CB! OMG. And if they wanted to take a S that could play CB, why not go with Brandon Merriweather from Miami...who actually played CB in college. And the rest of the draft was a mess. A couple of questionable receivers, not much else.

And the draft wasn't the only thing he screwed up. The Titans still have major holes at DE, DT, and WR (while I liked the Moulds acquisition he's not an elite receiver anymore). Yet the Titans did little to address these holes with FAs and have over $15M in salary cap money left. When did Bud Adams turn into Donald Sterling? I'm disgusted. If I had more spare time, I'd start www.firemikereinfedt.com. Please, somebody else take up the banner.

Marbury is my President Bush

You know how the late night hosts and other comedians love having President Bush around for constant fodder? I feel the same way about Stephon Marbury. You can always count on him to say something stupid or so petty that it makes it almost too easy to make fun of him.

Let's not even bring up his comments from this past season where he continued to live in the fantasyworld in which he believes he's the top point guard in the NBA. More recently there was the truly laughable self-delusion that if he did go play in Italy when his contract ran up, he would be hailed as the basketball version of David Beckham. As I've written about before, Marbury is clueless.

But this all leads me to his latest incredibly stupid comment. In the aftermath of the deal that sent KG to the Celts (and likely the Knicks back to the lottery) Marbury, in an exclusive interview in the NY Post, states that the Knicks have nothing to fear from KG and the Celtics. Is this the same Stephon Marbury who was almost begging to play with the very same KG...either in NYC or MSP? And what were the pearls of wisdom that Marbury came up with: "I'm not thinking about Boston," Marbury added. "I'm only thinking about the New York Knicks. Our new nickname is nice and nasty. That's how we're coming." That's so lame -- it sounds like a white guy trying to sound street.

What's better is that it didn't stop there. Marbury said that he was happy for KG because he knew KG was tired of losing. Like Marbury can be considered a winner? KG's record with the T-Wolves is dramatically better than Marbury's record wtih the Wolves, Nets, Suns and Knicks. In 11 years Marbury has only had 2 -- count 'em -- 2 winning seasons, one with KG. In comparison KG has had 8 seasons of .500 or better with one trip to the Western Conference finals. All on KG's back. One could say that Marbury's team records were similarly attributed to his own performance. He was not good enough to put a team on his shoulders, but always felt that he was on par with the top players in the game.

And of course, so interview with Marbury would be complete without throwing somebody under the bus. Today's victim was Kevin McHale. First, there is no question that McHale, while one of the greatest players, is a terrible GM. And he could easily be mistaken for Herman Munster (I wonder if he's related to Fred Gwynne?). But to say that he's worried for his cousin (the supposedly talented Sebastian Telfair -- who is on his 3rd team in his short 4 year career) who will now play for McHale. Marbury seems to be worried -- not because McHale is a poor GM -- but because he blames McHale of leaking that Marbury was jealous of Garnett, forcing his trade out of the Twin Cities back in the 98-99 season. Once again Marbury blaming someone else for his own actions. Poor Stephon. Look in the goddamn mirror once in a while. You've left 3 teams so far. In each case the team you went to got worse, while the team you left got better. You're a millstone around the neck of every franchise you've been with. Man up and take some responsibility and stop hatin' on a guy who was 10 times the player you ever thought you were.

I mean he should finally learn to shut up and that it's best not to talk at all. It's inconceivable that MSG gave this guy a talk show.