OMG what a finale. I think I woke up the building, I was a little loud when the Pack came back. Despite two interceptions, both of which I should note, were fabulous plays by the Texans DBs, Bret had an incredible night. Threw a great touchdown pass to Driver and almost 400 yards. This is in a world where we had almost NO running game, where the defense was 100% certain of what was going to happen, and they couldn't stop him. The Packer D came up strong when they needed to as well, Al Harris recovered from some beatings he took early and the line actually got some pressure, Grady Jackson most notably, stepped up hard. Bret orchestrated a 2 minute drive, got them into field goal range, and Longwell inched one just over the crossbar. Nailbiter if there ever was one.
The last sports topic for the day, I swear. If you haven't seen the Ron Artest footage, first of all, buy a fucking TV hippy. Then watch it on espn.com or any of another billion websites. The summary is that someone threw a beer at Artest after a fight and he went bezerker on the bit, leaped into the stands and started swinging. The fight continued and he punched a bunch of other dudes on the floor, along with O'Neal and Jackson. It is really a disgusting video to see these huge dudes coming after these scrawny Detroit fucks. Anyway, my takes on some relevant details.
--the fans: yes, these guys are dicks. Its disrespectful to throw shit at anyone, thats why it was rule one on the RHS debate squad (I'll take Cort Sylvester over David Stern any day of the week by the way). Its even more so to do it to an athlete in the game. You are a fan, there to watch. You can yell and scream and cheer and boo, but you are there to watch and thats all. The fans started it and in that respect they bear some responsibility.
--the players: I understand that emotions run high and I even get fights amongst players. You want to push another dude on the court, well, I think you are a punk, but we already knew that about Artest. Going into the stands is absolutely unacceptable. For one thing, the players have to be held to a higher standard. They are making millions and their job is not simply to play basketball, but to be personalities, to be for a public. You have to be able to put up with abuse from the fans. If some dude ran onto the court and swung at Artest, this would be different. Not to mention that this dude is in prime fucking condition. He is an elite athlete among the best in his sport. I know he's not a boxer, but he's got in a fuckload better shape then the dudes he went at. Look at them, a fat guy about 5'10" in a baseball hat and a skinny dork wearing glasses. You have to recognize the purely physical power differential here and be the bigger person.
--race: this morning on The Sports Reporters they were discussing how this all looks to the broader public, especially one that is not huge sports fans. They turn on the news on Saturday and see three huge athletic black men going after much weaker white suburban guys. Is is fair that this taints their perception of the incident, absolutely not. Nonetheless, it does. One of the biggest problems the NBA has is the perception that its players, more often than not African-Americans of lower socio-economic class, is very negative. Obviously the NBA has to be careful that it doesn't react to this by overpunishing the offenders to make up for the perception.
--the suspension: I'm entirely with Stern on this one. Artest should be suspended for the season. I actually think Jackson got off too lightly, since he took some big swings as well without even being provoked like Artest. You cannot have this happening and this is the signal that should be sent. It punishes Artest to the tune of over 5 million bucks and I would be surprised if Indiana makes much of a run missing three starters and their two best players. To ban him from the game would have been too much, that would have given the image that they are removing "fiesty" black superstars from the sport. I think the suspnesions will stand and while I recognize that the players union has to represent its members, they are wrong here. Don't pretend that this action is representative of a group of people which is predominantly made up of good competitors and admirable athletes. This is renegade bullshit and I wish the players union said, "alright, we get it." The fans are the life-blood of the game and downplaying the importance of something which threatens the safety of the people who keep it going is stupid. This isn't an on the court fight or a rap contract.
Alright, thats all I will blather about. Apparently you all get to suffer because Katie is out of town and I don't have anyone to talk to. I suppose you don't have to read and its not really like I break down the NBA with Katie either, but you get the drift. No sports tomorrow, beyond maybe a brief MNF mention if I am watching. One final note. You should download "We Used to Be Friends" by the Dandy Warhols. Its the theme from Veronica Mars and an all around great tune. That and "Let's Go" (the Trick Daddy song with Little John) are currently my faves.
Peace,
MB-K
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