Dan Gilbert Racist?

So the question of the day, Is Dan Gilbert the owner of the Cleveland Cavaliers a racist? Or is he just dealing with the lose of his best player and only hope of winning an NBA Championship in much the same way that a small child would, screaming in the hope someone hears him. So at best he is highly immature and at worst a racist, both ways lets hope he is not dating your daughter. First off lets look at the facts nothing Dan Gilbert had anything to do with the color of his skin, he never said Lebron James quit because he is black. However in my eyes what he did was equally sinister in nature. Dave Chappelle said that you have many kinds of racism, you have open racism " There are no secrets in Mississippi. Everybody knows the deal. 'Good morning nigger' Good morning sir'. " (Dave Chappelle) and then you have big city racism that is much harder to pick up on. What Dan Gilbert did was speak down to Lebron so openly and with such hate that it does bring back a time in history when rich white men would speak of runaway slaves in just the same way. The only way to know for sure if what Dan Gilbert said came from racist hate or out of the anger of a fan who is losing something they want is to look at the character of the man. In my mind this is the only way to pick a racist in the first place because as George Carlin once so rightly said " There is absolutely nothing wrong with any of those words in and of themselves. They're only words. It's the context that counts. It's the user. It's the intention behind the words that makes them good or bad. The words are completely neutral. The words are innocent. I get tired of people talking about bad words and bad language. Bullshit! It's the context that makes them good or bad. The context. That makes them good or bad. For instance, you take the word "Nigger." There is absolutely nothing wrong with the word "Nigger" in and of itself. It's the racist asshole who's using it that you ought to be concerned about. We don't care when Richard Pryor or Eddie Murphy say it. Why? Because we know they're not racist. Context. Context. We don't mind their context because we know they're black. Hey, I know I'm whitey, the blue-eyed devil, paddy-o, fay gray boy, honky, myself. They're only words. You can't be afraid of words that speak the truth, even if it's an unpleasant truth, like the fact that there's a bigot and a racist in every living room on every street corner in this country."

However when we start looking at the character of the man in this case, when we look for context to find if we see a racist behead the words it seems clear to me that in Dan Gilbert we find a man who is well within question on moral matters and is not someone who should start using his place of power to let loose with a hate laced rant. The Man known as "subprime dan" the man who made his money as the CEO of Quicken Loans offering 0%, no money down mortgages to home buyers online loans designed to prey on people of color is not the picture of a pure man who can throw the first stone.

So to end this. Yes Dan Gilbert is a racist due to the context his character as a man shows. So my words to you Gilbert are in the words of 5o cent " You shouldn't throw stones. If you live in a glass house. And if you got a glass jaw. You should watch your mouth"

Transcending Sports

As we draw close to Jackie Robinson Day I decided to take time in my blog to reflect upon those athletes who, like Jackie Robinson, transcended sports. But before I get to all of that I have to get something off my chest which has been bothering me the last few days as I watch the nit-wits on ESPN pontificate upon the subject of Don Imis and the Rutgers Women's Basketball Team. To start with it is obvious that Don Imis is a racist, a bigot and someone who enjoys saying such things for shock value. The thing that has bothered me however is the fact that everyone on ESPN keeps saying "the Rutger's Team has come off looking good in all of this by proving that they aren't 'nappy headed ho's' by showing that they get good grades and are well spoken valedictorians." Do you see what bothers me? Let me continue to clarify. Last time I checked in the United States you are innocent until proven guilty, yet the way the pundits on ESPN talk you would think all women must prove that they are not what Don Imis said. The statement is so utterly racist and bigoted you should not have to provide documents proving that you are a valedictorian to discredit Don Imis' aspersions upon your character.

Now, back to my original reason for writing this article: athletes who transcended sports. In my mind the athletes who transcended sports are as follows:

Muhammad Ali

For obvious reasons Muhammad Ali transcended sports when he refused induction into the US Army. This is the reason I think that Ali is most loved and hated for, some to this day have a problem with Ali refusing to serve but as he said at the time "I ain't got no quarrel with those Vietcong no Vietcong ever called me nigger." and who can argue with that. In 1996 Sports Illustrated did a poll of the world to find out who was the most recognizable figure in sports and over 20 years after the day he retired from boxing he was still the most recognizable figure getting over 65% of the vote and Michael Jordan who after all was wining his 6Th championship got less then 25% of the vote. Muhammad Ali was not just a sports figure he was a world figure.

Pelé

O Rei Pelé or The King Pelé. Pelé is hailed as a national hero in Brazil and is a hero to all the poor of the world. Pelé was officially declared the football ambassador of the world by FIFA and a national treasure by the Brazilian government. Pelé was not just one of the best soccer players of all time he was a player who did and does his best to make the world a better place to live. When a war was going on in South America both sides decided that they would stop fighting to watch Pelé play. This has turned in to the saying " soccer stops wars" but if the saying was true it would be "O Rei Pelé stops wars"

Jesse Owens

Owens was the grandson of a slave and the son of a sharecropper. He was often sick with what his mother reportedly called "the devil's cold". He was given the name Jesse by a teacher in Cleveland who did not understand his accent when the young boy said he was called J.C. Owens first came to national attention when, as a student of East Technical High School in Cleveland, Ohio, he tied the world record of 9.4 seconds in the 100-yard dash and long-jumped 24 feet 9 1/2 inches (7.56 m) at the 1933 National High School Championship in Chicago. What made Jesse Owens the man that was loved by the world was not that he could run fast or jump far but that he did it at Adolf Hitler's Berlin Olympics and that Adolf Hitler had to sit and watch as Owens won every event that he entered over the German athletes all of whom were of the Aryan race that Hitler believed to be superior. The look on Hitlers face when Jesse won transcended sports.

The Best There Ever Was Or Ever Will Be

It's April and I'm ready for some football but as I don't have a game to turn on I'll have to just talk about it and hope September comes fast this year. So the other day in my blog I talked about the best players of all time in the NBA and I had a list 1 to 10 and this got me thinking, if I had to do the same for the NFL how would my list go? Now after I thought about this for some time it came to me that it's not the same as in the NBA. In the NBA the players all try to do the same thing and therefore are comparable to one another but in the NFL it is far more divided into specific positions . Who can say who is the better player Jerry Rice or Joe Montana? I wouldn't like to say. So after some more thought it came to me that the best way to do this was to say who the best players where at the positions they played. So this is the blog of the Running Back.

Coming in at number Ten is a guy who helped make being a Running Back cool and had the best run in the history of the Super Bowl, Marcus Allen. He ran 3,022 times for 12,243 yards, 123 tds and a 4.1 average. He added 587 receptions for 5,411 yards and 21 tds.

When you think about doing it all and doing it in the big games the next guy is the name that comes to mind, Marshall Faulk. With 12279 Rushing and 6875 yards Receiving he is one of the all time best.

At 8 you have the guy who is now known for some bad things but he was a great RB, and the first to break the 2,000 yard mark for a season. That's right OJ Simpson.

7 You have the guy who one day could be the best to ever play in LaDainian Tomlinson. With 9176 yards rushing and 2900 receiving to go with a 111 TD's in just six years he could just end all the talk on who the best is.

6 Eric Dickerson. In 12 seasons with the Rams, Colts, Raiders and Falcons he ran 2,996 times for 13,259 yards and 90 tds for a 4.4 average. Added 281 catches for 2,137 yards and 6 tds.

5 Earl Campbell- Ive never seen such a big man run so fast. He was used up by Bum Phillips with the Oilers and Saints or he would have had a longer more productive career. In 9 seasons he had 2,187 attempts for 9,407 yards, 74 tds and a 4.3 average.

4 Emmitt Smith-In 226 games he rushed for 18,355 yards on 4,409 carries, 164 tds and a 4.2 average. He added 515 catches for 3,224 yards and 11 tds.

3 Jim Brown- Some would say he is the best of all time, but with lots of little guys in the NFL back then for him to run over, it wasn't as hard as in todays NFL. I can not see Brown having the same runs in today's NFL. He had 2,359 rushes for 12,312 yards, 106 tds and an amazing 5.2 yard per rush average

Coming in at number 2, the man so sweet it was his name, the one- the only-Walter Payton. They called him Sweetness and when you talk about the best of all time it's hard to think he is ever going to move down this list much. We lost him way too soon when he died, It's far less good a world without Sweetness. He was man who stood for everything that is right in and outside of the game. In the game he had 3,838 rushes for 16,726 yards, 110 tds and a 4.4 average per carry. He added 492 receptions for 4,538 yards and 15 TDs. All this while playing on some really bad Bears teams most of his career.

The The Best There Ever Was Or Ever Will Be- Barry Sanders. Every move beautiful, poetry in motion. Sports Illustrated writer Paul Zimmerman wrote of Sanders by saying, "It doesn't matter where the play is blocked; he'll find his own soft spot...The scheme doesn't matter with Sanders. He can run from any alignment. While other people are stuck with joints, he seems to have ball bearings in his legs that give him a mechanical advantage...Sanders' finest runs often occur when he takes the handoff and, with a couple of moves, turns the line of scrimmage into a broken field...Nobody has ever created such turmoil at the point of attack as Sanders has...Knock on wood, he seems indestructible..." The Pro Bowl safety John Lynch said of playing against Sanders, "It's like you're on an ice skating rink and he's the only one with a pair of skates". The late great Reggie White said "tackling Sanders is like trying to drink coffee with a fork".

The Best Of All Time!

So now everyone who thinks they know something about the NBA is talking about " Is Kobe better then MJ?" and everyone and their mother wants to fight about this. I was on NBA.com today and talking to other guys about this and they just about lost it when I said that MJ is not the best of all time, they thought that some how I was saying Kobe is better. I was not, some how this thing is down to Kobe Or MJ and that is it, like they are the only guys ever to play this game and play it good. So now it is my turn to put you all right. You all want to talk about how MJ has more 50 point games then Kobe and how that makes him the best player of all time. Are you all that dumb? Wilt Chamberlain has three times the 50 point games that Kobe And MJ have put together. He is the only guy who averaged 50 a game for a year and when he averaged 44.8 the next year no one thought it was that good but it was more then MJ ever averaged for a year, so do not come to me with some weak ass opinion and then try to say MJ is the best player of all time thanks to having 31 career 50 point games, Wilt Chamberlain had over a 130 career 50 point games so MJ is not in the same world as him and if you think he did any better on 60 point games think again. MJ and Kobe have four each and Wilt Chamberlain has 32, yes that is not a typo I said 32. The best player when it came to puting the ball in the bisket was Wilt Chamberlain and it is not even close.

Now when the MJ fans are not saying he was the best thanks to being the best scorer of all time they as saying something just as dumb. That he is the best thanks to wining more rings then Kobe.... Hello!! Maybe I'm the only guy in this world who knows the name Bill Russell and if that is true let me help you out by listing his honors.

Honors: Elected to Naismith Basketball Basketball Hall of Fame (1975); NBA champion (1957, '59, '60, '61, '62, '63, '64, '65, '66, '68, '69); NBA MVP (1958, '61, '62, '63, '65);
All-NBA First Team (1959, '63, '65); All-NBA Second Team (1958, '60, '61, '62, '64, '66, '67, '68); NBA All-Defensive Team (1969); 12-time NBA All-Star (1958-69); All-Star Game MVP (1963); One of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History (1996); Olympic gold medalist (1956).

Now read it one more time and count on your hands you unevolved tree-dwellers the number of times he was a champion. I'll give you a minute.....done? Yeah that is right ten. Ten, it is like he won as many rings as MJ and then was like ' no I think I'll do this three more times just to prove I'm the best at this. Yes one more time, MJ is not the best at this and would be lucky to rank in the top 5.


Oh and in case you are going to say that MJ did all the little things like have more assists a game then the guys who I just mantioned just remember that Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain's career rebound per game average is over 22.5. Bill Russell had 51 boards in one game, 49 in two others, and a dozen consecutive seasons of 1,000 or more rebounds and as As Oscar Robertson put it in the Philadelphia Daily News when asked whether Chamberlain was the best ever, "The books don't lie." Now I'm not saying that MJ is not a good player or one of the 10 best of all time but before you all start saying it is him or Kobe just remember that MJ did not set the benchmark of execellence Chamberlain and Russell did and MJ is just lucky that he is geting a mention when it comes to the best players of all time.

Last of all when it comes to who is better all time Kobe or MJ here is my list of the best players of all time 1 to 10.

1 Wilt Chamberlain

2 Bill Russell

3 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

4 Oscar Robertson

5 Shaquille O'Neal

6 Kobe Bryant

7 Michael Jordan

8 Magic Johnson

9 Larry Bird

10 Jerry West

Playoffs! Don't talk to me about PLAYOFFS!

With the NBA Playoffs just around the bend it is time to look at the standings and talk about the match-ups. After a lot of thought I think the West is going to stay the same for the last 16 games. So with that in mind here is the first round of the West Playoffs and how I think they would play out.

#1 Dallas
#8 Golden State

#2Phoenix
#7Denver

#3San Antonio
#6L.A. Lakers

#4Utah
#5Houston

So looking at this one by one starting from the top, I think that Golden State would give Dallas one hell of a series, as evidence the fact that Golden State is 2-0 this year against Dallas, but in the end I like Dallas in 7 games.

Phoenix and Denver is going to be fun TV that's for sure, I think the only question in this series is whether or not we are going to see a defensive play or not. My money is Phoenix playing just enough defense to get the job done in 6 games.

San Antonio and the Lakers, I'm sure you all know what I'm going to say but before you say I'm being a homer let me say this, the Lakers are 2 and 1 this year against San Antonio and the one loss was thanks to a buzzer-beater. Lakers in 6 games.

Utah and Houston, this should make for some of the best played and best coached games of the year. I think in the end the experience of Houston is going to pay-off. Houston in 7 games.

So after the first round if my memory is not letting me down the match-ups would be as follows.


#1 Dallas
#6L.A. Lakers


#2Phoenix
#5Houston

Dallas and the Lakers. This is very hard for me to call. I think Dallas is over-hyped and the Lakers always fight to the end. This is going 7 games for sure and I like the Lakers 101 to 100 in game 7. Like I said this is going to be hard.

Phoenix and Houston. This to me comes down to that fact that Phoenix just has too much fire power and I do not think T-mac can put up 50 in every game. Phoenix in 7 games.

So now we come to it the Western Conference Finals.

#2 Phoenix
#6 Lakers

Would it be too much to ask for the Lakers to best the top 3 teams in the West one after another? It could be, but on the other hand if they come this far with out going home I can not see Kobe letting them fall to the Suns two years in a row. This time it is the Lakers in 6.

This is all for now but look out for my Eastern Conference Playoff breakdown.

The Race For MVP

The race for MVP is on and in a lot of minds Dirk Nowitzki is the leading candidate but not in mine. If someone asked me today who I would give the MVP to I would start by saying that they should not have an MVP as it is an utterly subjective award. As for me I think that Shaq is always the MVP because without him a team with D Wade could not get over the 500 mark but with him they are on an 8 game win streak. Now I'm not saying that Shaq is going to get the award but he should. He is the Most Valuable Player to his team. Now on the other hand Shaq did not play most of the year and I know some of you are saying 'how can you say he is the MVP." It is true that Shaq was out for most of the year but what I'm saying is all that showed was just how valuable he is. So after saying all that I have to say that this award is more Best Player than Most Valuable Player. If you are going off of that criteria then my Best Player of the year award list looks something like this.

1. Steve Nash- His 20 points and 11 assists a game speak for themselves but he does all the little things too like leading the team in taking charges.
2. Dirk Nowitzki- The best 7 foot shooter ever, he does however have a problem coming through in the clutch.
3. Tim Duncan- The best power forward in history. Need I say more? How about 20 and 10 a game and the only thing that gives his team a chance of wining the west.
4. Kobe Bryant- Yeah Yeah I'm a homer but you all know damn well that you do not want to play the Lakers come playoffs and he is why. He could just go off for a 100.
5. Tracy McGrady- If we are talking best player this guy should be on every list.
   

" NBA -- it's No Boys Allowed."

Yes the NBA is No Boys Allowed or it is in the mind of anyone who knows the game like nine time champ Phil Jackson, Jackson told reporters " "That's crazy. That's a vendetta. They have a witch hunt going on. That's nuts. [Korver's] riding somebody. Everybody does that in this league.

"It's just becoming a witch hunt now," he said. "I know it's not a contact sport per se, but it's a physical game and there's a lot of intimidation," Jackson said. "I think that Kobe plays the game within the bounds. There's a certain rule that we have in this game about how to play it. The men play it. That's why it's called the NBA -- it's No Boys Allowed." Bryant has received two one-game suspensions this season for throwing elbows in games, once against the Timberwolves' Marko Jaric , for which he was whistled for an offensive foul, and the other against the Spurs' Manu Ginobili , where he didn't receive a foul on the play. The Spurs said after the game the it was not a foul and it was in no way a dirty play. Kobe is thought by most who know the game to be the best player in the game today and not to be in anyway a dirty player.

"It's insulting," Bryant said before the slumping Lakers flew to Denver for Thursday night's game against the Nuggets. "I don't need to be a dirty player. That's just ridiculous. I'm not a dirty player -- never have been, never will be."

"It is an after-the-fact type of thing," Jackson told reporters, "and that is bothersome. They have the advantage of looking at videotape. "We wish they would correct some of the mistakes they make in a ballgame the same way," he said. "There's a couple of games that probably could be swung, won or lost, by some of the calls they [could] correct after the fact. But you can't do that in the game. This all looks to be true, so in my mind I would have to go along with Jackson in saying this is a "witch hunt" It is hard to see the NBA doing the same thing to a Lebron James or a D Wade, not that they should anyway as Jackson said this is the NBA- No Boys Allowed. It looks to me as if the only crying little boys in the NBA are Stu Jackson and David Stern, Maybe they should stop the "witch hunt" and go back to what they do best, telling the players what they should look like when they come to the game and making sure that they do not talk back about the officiating!"