NBA
Playoffs Editorial April
25, 2001 - - - - -
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Thoughts
From the First Round By
COREY WOODS
Nothing
like stating the obvious.
The
Dallas Mavericks are simply amazing. After their game one loss to
the Utah Jazz, Nellie and The Muskrat (Steve Nash) go off on tangents about
how the Jazz flop and manipulate the referees. Oh, there's a news
flash. The Jazz have been the certified kings of The Flop for well
over a decade now. Is this news to the Mavericks? Have they
not watched any game tape since 1990? Since the Mavs apparently have
never seen a Jazz game or keep up with current events, lets inform them
of some other things:
1.
Isaiah Rider doesn't always get his hotel wake up call on time.
2.
Michael Jordan pushed off on Bryon Russell.
3.
Tyrone Hill owes Charles Oakley a little bit of paper (that's money for
everyone not well versed in slang).
Now, some advice for the Mavericks: stop crying. The Jazz are a perennial
playoff team that has earned the right to get those calls. The Mavericks,
up until last year, were a perennial doormat. When the Mavs begin
to go to the playoffs every year, then they will begin to get the benefit
of the doubt as well. Until then, Dallas fans, prepare for some more
Oscar award winning performances.
The
Simple Person's Guide to Bigotry
By
now, all of us have heard the ignorant comments that Knicks guard Charlie
Ward made last weekend about Jewish people. Charlie finally decided
to wise up and apologize today after a few days of stupidly trying to defend
his foolish statements. What is amazing is not that Ward has these
opinions, but that he seemingly didn't appear to understand why so many
people were offended. For all of you non-math majors out there, I'm
going to provide you with a simple formula that I learned when I was about
thirteen. This equation is one that you can use when trying to determine
whether or not someone is a racist:
All
(x) are (y) = BIGOT
Whenever you start a sentence off by saying that all of any race, religion,
sex, are something, you are making a bigoted statement. As an African-American
male, I'll use my own as an example so I don't get myself in any hot water.
Here's an example just to test out my equation:
All
(Blacks) are (criminals). = BIGOT.
What you just read is a racist statement. Get my point? Any
time you make any statement that all people all possess the same characteristics
means that you are making a bigoted statement. No one is telling
Ward that he doesn't have the right to freedom of speech or to his religion.
Ward must understand that he is a public figure and that what he says will
come under tremendous scrutiny. He must in the future use more discretion.
Blame
the Spoon
Any
true NBA fan knows all about the continuing saga of everyone's favorite
hothead: Rasheed Wallace. We all know that Sheed has the tendency
to lose his cool on the regular. Sheed showed little control this
year on his way to breaking the record for technical fouls which he himself
set just last year. Many times he has said that he can not control
his temper tantrums. He has said that he feels that if he doesn't
say something that he's going to explode. Rasheed has constantly
hurt his team with his crybaby routine that has grown tired to almost every
NBA observer. He must learn to get ahold of himself and start acting
like a grown man and not a six-year old child.
All
that being said, the technical foul that he received in Game One against
the Lakers was not at all his fault. If you look at the tape, it
was very clear that referee Bill Spooner made a remark to him that was
inappropriate as Wallace was headed to the locker room. Even if the
comment wasn't mean-spirited (though I believe it was), what business did
the referee have making a comment to him in the first place? Referees
are on the court to keep the peace, not to throw gasoline on the fire.
Yes, it is true that Rasheed must begin to realize that he is a marked
man out there. His own immature behavior has put a bullseye on his
back. This however doesn't excuse the official from being a jerk
himself. He made a comment when Rasheed had his back to him, and
then stuck his finger in Wallace's face before handing him a "t".
The players are held to high standards by the league and the officials
should be as well. I'm hoping that David Stern fined or reprimanded
Spooner for his obvious poor judgment.
