Feb
6, 2001
NBA BASKETBALL
FAN EDITORIAL (THE FOLLOWING
REPRESENTS THIS CONTRIBUTOR'S OPINIONS ONLY) - - - - -
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RIDER
RIDING HIGH By
BRIAN KAYSER
Here's
some breaking news for you. Isaiah Rider (allegedly) smokes marijuana.
Apparently an Atlanta Hawks team official caught J.R. smoking the banned
substance in his hotel room when he was with the Hawks. Just because he
faded into obscurity with the Atlanta Hawks, that is not a good reason
to smoke. League rules apply to everyone in the league, not just the guys
making the minimum. There are only a few exceptions to league rules designated
to the stars. Michael Jordan gets an extra step, Allen Iverson can carry
the ball, John Stockton can set moving picks, and Marcus Camby can headbutt
his coach. Never mind, Camby can't get away with that. J.R. smoking weed
does not fit under any of those exceptions, so I guess it's time to face
the consequences. Here's some advice for Rider: Stop screwing up so you
can stay with the Lakers until the end of the year and get a ring, then,
go to Vancouver, Toronto, or even Chicago. None of the fans there will
care if their star player likes weed. Why? Because those teams have no
fans. You can do whatever you want to do. The Canada papers might not even
put your box score in because of their puck coverage, and the Chicago papers
will only have room for the Cubs, the White Sox, and da Bears. Besides,
it's not like that's big news to anyone who's followed basketball for the
past few years. This is a guy who got pulled over for smoking weed out
of an empty Sprite can. Later on in the year, he was found with illegal
cell phones. That's great, a guy making over a million dollars is testing
the black market for cell phones. The league is not dealing with a genius
here. This is also a guy who is chronically late for everything. He can't
seem to catch a team bus, a team plane, or a break. One time it was car
trouble, another time it was that the hotel crew didn't wake him up. Maybe
J.R. expected all of the hotel's maids to knock on the door hitting pots
and pans together. A hotel wake-up call is not high-tech stuff, J.R. The
hotel programs your room and time into it's computer, and at the right
time your phone will be ringing off the hook until you pick it up. The
highlight of this season though has been J.R. sharing his opinion on the
Shaq-Kobe feud. He's probably the last guy I would go see if I wanted an
intelligent opinion on anything. That is the equivalent of asking O.J.
how his search for the real killers is going. Of course there's not going
to be a real answer, he'll just be saying whatever words flash across his
brain first. If Rider wants to stay in the league for another few years,
what he has to do is quite simple. Buy an alarm clock, a book, and maybe
a few cd's. That way, when he gets to his room, he can set the alarm clock,
read a chapter in his pop-up book, and maybe listen to a cd. There is absolutely
no way he can get in trouble with this plan, but knowing J.R., he'll find
a way to.
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