Tuesday, January 24, 2006

Hey Now, You're an All-Star



The All-Star Game Comes to Dallas next year …One big detail is the bold claim by Jim Lites that all FULL season ticket holders will get a chance to go to the All-Star game. I hope that is true…

BREAKING NEWS: Mario Retires today ...again...but he is greatness...

Mavs at the Halfway point And Art Garcia takes a hard look at the 31-10 team


The Mavs have put themselves in position to contend for the No. 1 seed in the West by buying into Johnson's system. He's done a masterful job dealing with injuries by developing a roster that might be the deepest around.

Stackhouse, Josh Howard, Marquis Daniels, Keith Van Horn and Jason Terry have missed a total of 58 games. Dirk Nowitzki, Erick Dampier, DeSagana Diop and Devin Harris are the only Mavs to suit up for every game.

"We've overcome a lot," said Nowitzki, an obvious MVP candidate at midseason. "At one point, we had something like three guys out in the starting five. But we kept on working on the system and doing the stuff that got us here."

The Mavs, winners of five in a row, are in the league's top 10 in points scored and fewest allowed. Only pacesetting Detroit can make the same claim.

The Pistons are the lone team with a better road record than the Mavs' 16-6 mark.

The Mavs are 3-0 on the current five-game trip, and they have never had a five-win trip in franchise history.

Johnson's team is 15-7 against teams with winning records, including 5-1 against last season's conference finalists.


Soak in some of those fun facts. The Mavercks, who we all said would have to wait until the playoffs to prove if they were better, certainly have impressed in this first half. The days of Nash and Finley are well behind us, as is the Bradley-Era, and you know what? They are better. This team is quality. We shall see what that means come spring time…

Could Kobe get 100?

Heisler says, it was Jordanesque


"You know those steel cage matches in wrestling?" said TNT's Doug Collins, who coached Jordan for two seasons in Chicago and two more in Washington, as Michael's personal choice.

"I would love to see Michael at 27, Kobe at 27, lock them in a gym and see who comes out. And you know one thing, the other one will be dead on the court.

"Kobe is the best player in the game right now. People don't want to recognize that because of the things that happened that caused people not to like him. …

"Kobe at 27 has the worst talent around him he has ever had. When Michael was 27, he had the best talent around him he ever had. It's as if their careers flip-flopped."

At 27, Jordan hadn't won a title and had learned his limits the hard way, but with Scottie Pippen and Horace Grant emerging, was surrounded by the best talent he'd play with.

Bryant won three titles with Shaquille O'Neal by 24, but now, at 27, is learning the hard way how far he can carry the Lakers by himself.

Bryant is every bit as ferocious as Jordan and works even harder at his craft (Jordan got more serious as he got older; Bryant was born serious).

Of course, Kobe is doing it his way, with his impossible, long-range, covered, falling-backward, leaning-in, off-balance, no-no-no-nice shot repertoire.

"I've always said Michael is the most fundamentally sound player I'd ever seen," Collins said. "Now when you throw in that spectacular physical talent, you've really got something…. If this was like gymnastics with degree of difficulty, Kobe's shots wouldn't just count two points."


Here is what the national media thinks of the Cowboys bias ….


The Pro Football Hall of Fame balloting won't take place until the morning before Super Bowl XL, but some media folks in the Dallas area have already begun banging the drums, in their typically ill-informed fashion, about contentions that a bias exists against the Cowboys' candidates. In the same week, two columnists from the Fort-Worth Star Telegram penned pieces, apparently trying to win votes and influence selectors. The annual rhetoric is every bit as petty and small-minded as the Dallas area media accuses the selectors of being. It never affects the votes, and won't this year, but that probably won't stop the columnists from grinding their axes on days when they've apparently got nothing better to write.


I hate to say it, but I would bet more people agree with this guy, than disagree with him...

Stars 4, Coyotes 1 ...Brendan Morrow was wonderful...

Bonds bows out of the World Baseball Classic …Does anyone care about this tournament?

Did Anna Benson get her husband traded?

Toyota joins Nascar …prediction: Nascar fans will never, ever go for this. They hate drivers who are not from Confederate States, so I am guessing a car from the country that brought us Pearl Harbor will go over like a ton of bricks…We shall see…

Ronaldinho vs Zidane …Genius…

Gary reformats my best team spreadsheet …By the way, we now need to add points to Seattle and Pittsburgh…

This is the comedy treat of the day: Aggie who may qualify as gay

Mel Kiper has filed his early draft projection …need subscription…



1. Houston -- *Reggie Bush, RB, USC
2. New Orleans -- Matt Leinart, QB, USC
3. Tennessee -- *Vince Young, QB, Texas
4. New York Jets -- D'Brickashaw Ferguson, OT, Virginia
5. Green Bay -- *Mario Williams, DE, NC State
6. Oakland -- A.J. Hawk, LB, Ohio State
7. San Francisco -- DeMeco Ryans, LB, Alabama
8. Buffalo -- *Haloti Ngata, DT, Oregon
9. Detroit -- Jay Cutler, QB, Vanderbilt
10. Arizona -- DeAngelo Williams, RB, Memphis

18. Dallas -- Jimmy Williams, DB, Virginia Tech


And now, some email about the black coach topic of last week:


Sturm,

Long time no bother. Hope all is well with you and yours. As your resident P1 "american who happened to have been born brown" aka black guy, here's my take: Yes you've traveled but you're from Wisconsin and you - like many - live in this bubble of happiness where you just because you believe something makes sense to you you assume that it makes sense to everyone else. You say that you're color blind so you assume that everyone else is or should be like you. Sorry my friend, that's not the case.

Before you get defensive let me say that there are extremes on all sides. I don't agree with everything Blackistone or Jean Jacque Saint whatever writes just because they're black either. Being from Champaign, Illinois I too grew up thinking everyone had the same "love thy neighbor...for the content of their character...yada yada" until at 17 my high school date's (blonde, blue eyed...) father refused to shake my hand. He was a strength coach for the U of I. Guess we were good enough to help him earn a living but... you know the rest. It was the first time, but not the last. Forgiven, but not forgotten. That's our life - every day.

Anyway, back to the matter at hand. The situation with Romeo C. and the group of young coaches, who happened to have been born white, with little experience and poor track records that were hired this week is really too blatant for even my usually right minded - can't we all just get along - self to accept as "chance".

Dan was right, it's a matter of hiring someone like the GM, like the advertisors, like the season ticket buyers, and in college like the boosters - because they understand each other. They speak the same language. They look good on the sidelines and sound good on the coaching shows. They SELL TICKETS when winning is a crap shoot.

If minorities (that includes bald guys) want to get jobs you need to either have a person like yourself owning the team, running the team, or you better have a resume so great that winning with you is a likelihood and not a hope - taking over a perpetually down team makes this easier to swallow aka Lovie, Romeo, Marv, & Denny or you better "fit in" aka Herm & Tony.

Sorry Bob, likeism really does exist and in many forms. How many bald guys do you see doing the news? Do you really believe there are just not that many qualified guys with shiney domes out there or do you just accept it? Blackistone and many others are just tired of accepting it. Answer to the prob? Call Oprah, Cosby, and P Diddy (haha) and have them buy a team. Think they'd have hired Payton? Doubt it. Doesn't make it any more right - just makes it life as we live it.

Kage

And then, Dion sent me this one:


I think what bothers me is not the # of black coaches in the league, but the way that they're treated. Haslett loses his job and picks one up for next year. Black coaches so far get their one chance and that's it for a while. They get their shot, then if they fail or when they eventually get fired as most coaches do, they're done. We can't complain because people will say "hey we gave Dennis Green a shot and he failed". White coaches however, get recycled all the time. One day hopefully I'll be proven wrong.

And if you think race is no longer a factor in 2006, I'm so sorry to tell you, but you're wrong. It is and always will be. As long as there are races, there will be problems.

Dion


My response to this? Here I go:

Has Haslett been hired? or Tice? or Sherman?

I know Dennis Green was not out of work long before he was hired a second time. Same with Ray Rhodes. Tony Dungy.

My point is that people say things like, "the black coach never gets another chance" and the "white guy gets recycled" but where is the truth really?

And what about the life-time coordinators who are white and never got their chance to be a head coach? Fritz Shurmur, Jim Johnson, Monte Kiffin, and Jim Bates all come to mind as far more qualified than 99.9% of coordinators (white or black) that get hired. Do they just not interview well? Do they not have the interest? Who knows? What we do know is that no one wants to write a column about the poor white guy who can't get hired, because that doesn't make very interesting segments or conversations.

I am just trying to say that race is not always the reason someone gets hired or fired. Sports are very complicated, and to suggest it is that simple is irresponsible by responsible journalists.

19 comments:

Anonymous said...

toyota joining nascar...brilliant! maybe it will branch the sport out.
and why do all these mock drafts have the cowboys picking db'? shouldnt the concern be oline, and linebacker?
and i have to think that most national media probably feels the same about the cowboys bias as that guy, to them all they see is the whining.

Anonymous said...

Only 5 Cowboys are in the Hall of Fame.

Meanwhile...

12 members of the Steelers teams from the 70's are in.

8 members of the Miami Dolphins are in.

7 members of the Kansas City Chiefs are in.

And 12 members of the Oakland Raiders are in the hall, even though they've only won two super bowls.

Of course, Len couldn't be bothered to actually argue any of the facts that are on the side of those of us who believe without a doubt that an anti-Cowboy bias exists in the Hall of Fame voting committee.

Anonymous said...

"May" be gay? Nice one Bob...

Anonymous said...

man, the aggies suck.

Anonymous said...

Still funny. That clip has been floating around on Orangebloods for a couple of days now. And Kobe is still a thug that broke apart one of the greatest teams ever so that he could get more touches.

P1 Anon 10:49

Anonymous said...

everytime there's a race arguement people on each side format their arguement by making a statement (i.e. black coaches don't get a shot or white coaches aren't treated with special treatment) and then they dig and dig to find instances that back their claim. somehow they always ignore the same number of facts that dispute their claim.
the fact is that there still is some racism in the world, there always will be. but, does every decision, every happening, every statement, have to be reduced to the race issue? maybe if we could look at some of the other parameters involved and put away our "race-card seeking missiles" maybe one day the race issue would go away. to me, the race topic is a superficial way to ignore real problems that are hard to solve. instead let's just blame it on "big, bad, whitey and the government". this unites blacks in the most horrible way possible. look at someone like Jesse Jackson. does he care about the real issues regarding blacks? no, he doesn't. he cares about diverting attention away from the real problems that he knows he can't fix. instead, fixating them on this "somebody owes us something" rhetoric that does nothing but build his political and economic stature.
i actually read an article on www.bet.com this morning that basically said that hurricanes target black people! is this where we are headed?

Drew J said...

From the Pro Football HoF's website:

Teams that have more members in the HoF than the Dallas Cowboys' 7 (note that this includes front office personnel as well):

Arizona Cardinals (10)
Chicago Bears (26)
Cleveland Browns (15)
Detroit Lions (12)
Green Bay Packers (20)
Indianapolis Colts (10)
Miami Dolphins (9)
New York Giants (17)
Oakland Raiders (12)
Pittsburgh Steelers (17)
St. Louis Rams (13)
San Francisco 49ers (11)
Washington Redskins (15)

The number in parentheses is the number of players/personnel inducted into the HoF who spent the majority of their time with that team (i.e. Ditka is a Bear not an Eagle or a Cowboy).

No bias?

The Cowboys are one of the two greatest modern era franchises (along with the 49ers). By my calculations, the greatest. Probably one of the 4 greatest franchises of all time.

7 members? 5 players!

Just because some NY beat writer says there is no bias doesn't mean its true.

Drew J said...

It's a well known fact that all people with webcams should be shot.

Hanging my head in Aggie shame....

Anonymous said...

Arthur mentioned "the hurricane targeted black people"

Well tornadoes target white trash, so I guess we're even. That's why trailer-parks are called "Tornado Bait". Fortunately, my trailer is a double wide baby!!!

Good lord, wait until that Aggie is trying to interview for a job, or get a house loan or something important. Why do people put the stuff in the public domain....IDIOT!!!

Anonymous said...

With all this head coach and Hall of Fame talk, some sports geek needs to do a tally on how many whites vs. blacks are in the Hall.

Actually, I take that back, Blackistone would write 10 columns if he got ahold of it.

Anonymous said...

NASCAR fans will love Toyota as long as they get an inbred redneck to drive the cars.

Andy Douthitt said...

As a Christian man this may be the most racially charged "Bob's Blog" in history. Tell Jesus you're sorry and go tell the white trash ladies to

GO FIX ME A TURKEY POT PIE!

Bless you my children

Anonymous said...

" Toyota joins Nascar …prediction: Nascar fans will never, ever go for this. They hate drivers who are not from Confederate States, so I am guessing a car from the country that brought us Pearl Harbor will go over like a ton of bricks…We shall see…"

Had this occurred 10 to 15 years ago when 99.9% of the fanbase lived in the South, then I'd say you'd be right, Bob.

As it stands, Nascar has increased it's appeal nationwide and it's not like this is Toyota's first foray into the world of Nascar. Hell Darrell Waltrip's been doing ads for them for about a year and also drives a Toyota in the Craftsman Truck Series.

Anonymous said...

That clip sohows that all aggies are dumb, they should be taken to utah and beaten

Anonymous said...

The toyota tundra has been in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series since 2003. Coming off their most successful season in the 2005 truck series, the Toyota Tundra had an increase in sales of 12.9 percent over 2004. Maybe a coincedence(sp?), but Toyota still remains the best selling brand in America. However, I believe Toyota's objective is not necessarily increased sales but forcing the other manufacturers to spend more money (that they don't have) or get out of NASCAR altogether. Look at what happened in American open-wheel racing 10-15 years ago when Toyota and Honda took over CART. If not for the IRL, GM would have been out long ago, instead they were able to stay around until last year. Other manufactures such as Mercedes left while Cosworth was sold to Ford and Ilmor was bought by Honda. In Formula One, Toyota has the largest budget of any team (with no results) and has forced Jaguar, Minardi, and Petronas out of the sport for lack of financial resources. So based on history, my prediction is that Dodge will be out soon. Dodge has been struggling in the win column, is frustrated with the nose of the Charger, and complains about the fact that their investment is not being matched in sales. Dodge will be out by 2010. Depending on how Ford's new plan of restructuring goes they could follow. GM (Chevrolet) has had the most success of American makes, they have the best chance of surviving against Toyota.

Anonymous said...

Thanks Bob for posting the soccer clips. Keep it up.

Unknown said...

damnit...i did NOT mean for that video to get out. looks like i set us aggies back another few years in proving that we're not british cigarettes.

Anonymous said...

Of couse there is a Dallas biased with HOF voters. Of course they're not going to admit it. Would you admit that you don't vote for those players becasue they whipped the dogsnot out of your favorite team?

Lois M:

You're right, Kobe isn't a "thug". Worthless human would be better. Crappy husband, liar, and selfish. On the court he's a whinney baby, and a ball hog. Why should you need to score 81? Becasue the spotlight isn't on you enough? I'd take Adrian Griffin or Darrell Armstrong a hundred times before Kobe.

Anonymous said...

ChozSun, Kobe doesn't play with heart or want to win? Either you've never seen him play or you're a ranting idiot. I think you're thinking of Erick Dampier.