Stern brought the NBA officiating problem on Himself

In the wake of the NBA officiating scandal, it is hard to say that this is a surprise.
Over the past five years or so, NBA Commissioner David Stern has done everything in his power to try and shelter the officials from any and all criticism. He has not tolerated any derogatory remarks in post game interviews from both coaches and players. He has fined all of coaches, players AND owners if what he deems as excessive or repetitive criticism of officials are apparent. Players have been assessed technical fowls for giving officials dirty looks, clapping and even ignoring officials.

His apparent purpose has been to “protect” the image of the NBA in favor of any discussions which would promote the league.

In essence, if at any time, an official is not held up on the most highest of regard, David Stern is quick to swoop in and shield his officiating crews from any attempts to discredit or otherwise question the performance of an official.

Even in the event when calls are blantantly incorrect, post interviews with Stern will find him defending the officials outright. His management of officiating performance is that the officials are always correct and should not be challenged.

Finally, we now know that his purpose has been misguided. Stern’s blind overprotection actually affected this and possibly other cases where officiating results are found not to be as legitimate as Stern would profess. It’s near time to face the possibility that Stern’s grasp on the needs of the league is fading.

To most it would seem that Stern should remove the “black box” that is the NBA decission makers, and become more transparent. There should be criticism of officiating where called for.

Stern should take this opportunity to reverse his stance that questioning officials is off limits and create a mechanism which would show how officials are graded and how they are fined when gross negligence is observed.

Mr. Selig — Give the baseball back to the kids

A local sports columnist and radio personality frequently poses the question:

“Why are kids not playing baseball anymore?”

Virtually every ballpark in the game has been replaced or scheduled for demolition over the last 15 years.
The commisioner reasoning; to build smaller, more intimate parks in order to cater to the high-end client. Mr. Selig has selectivly chosen to remove the family “moment” from a baseball game replaced with a lobby of sorts where businessmen can entertain those whose business they want. While there isn’t anything wrong with the practice per se, it is wrong that Mr. Selig has taken the opportunity to make all the stadiums his own personal country club for “The Good Ole Boy” network.

So it’s not so much the fault of the percieved move in of the video game, I would say it’s more to the point that Mr. Selig doesn’t much care for the kids climbing over his backyard fense to get their baseball bat. Yes, I went there. I just called Mr. Selig out as the grumpy ole neighbor who keeps all the baseballs that fly over his fense.

And that is why America’s Past Time, Passed it’s Time

The NBA got it right this time

Short, sweet and to-the-point; the NBA got it right this week by announcing that Al McCoy would be inducted into the NBA Hall of Fame.
I posted a few weeks ago that Al deserves a big “Thank You” before he retires. This will do just fine. I’m sure the Phoenix Suns organization will do its part to ensure Al is awarded his deserved recognition in their own way as well. I can’t wait to be there to participate.

Shazzam Al! You are the best!

http://makeapoint.wordpress.com/2007/06/14/shazzam-thank-you-al-mccoy/

Who’s fault will it be when we learn Al Qaida was smarter than we thought.

It has been relatively peacefull over the last couple years. The war is thousands of miles away. The spooks seem to be catching bad guys before they can do bad things here at home.
The only violence seems to be in Europe lately. Is our attitude, better them than us?

What if the current silence ends up being the proverbail calm before the storm? What if domestic Al Qaida terror cells have not been flushed out as efficiently as possible and are just waiting for the right moment to start?

What if they’re even smarter than that? What if they see that their biggest road block happens to be the guy sitting in the White House right now. If that is their concern, then they should be happily waiting around for 2008. President Bush’s polls are the lowest ever, which could will most assuredly impact the subject matter during the election.

Bush’s hardline stance on terrorism doesn’t seem to be mirrored by many of those who care to replace his seat. In fact, most currently sound soft on the matter. They all want the troops home now. Well, who wouldn’t like that to happen? And now, one side of the Congress is demanding that the troops return home in 2008 — come hell or high water. So I added a bit at the end but the attitude shows.

The point is, if we were still being attacked here at home, then President Bush’s ratings would be sky high for his no tollerance stance on terrorism. Granted, depending on what he would do in the case of additional domestic attacks, his ratings might be different. But we would be chearing him for what most seem to be critical of now.

Could it be that Al Qaida is putting up such a fight in Iraq because they too know it is a critical front to being able to implement their war on everybody else.