I thought my buddy Skip would appreciate this story. He reads and hears everything on the North Carolina basketball so I found out this was not news to him. The Tar Heels beat Duke again but this time on a technicality! According to the story both schools were actively recruiting 6-5 220 pound shooting guard P.J. Hairston. This McDonald's All-American had been highly sought by a number of schools. Hairston claims recruiting letters to him from Duke were incorrectly addressed to him. He said they read "T.J. Harrison and similar misspellings." If you are recruiting a player you should at least address his name correctly!

An interesting bit of news regarding the Pistons sale. The team had been on the market since owner Bill Davidson died in 2009 leaving his widow as owner. Karen Davidson announced within a short period of her husbands death she intended to sell the team. In early 2011 it was announced the team The Palace and Palace Entertainment would be sold to billionaire Tom Gores owner of Platinum Equity. The sale concluded last month yet has not received NBA approval, end of story correct? Recently Karen Davidson announced she would retain minority interest in the team and other Piston holdings. How much and the dollar value on Karen Davidson's share wasn't revealed.

My cousin and I were discussing the NBA Draft Lottery, he said he felt there was no need of a lottery! I explained there were historical issues that caused the NBA to begin a lottery system. We can blame the Houston Rockets for the lottery, it's that simple. I went to Wikipedia to clarify my research on several aspects I had forgotten. Prior to the lottery system the number one NBA Draft choice was always based on a coin flip between the Western and Eastern Conference team with the worst won-lost record. The lottery is weighted so the worst your won-lost record the more balls are placed in the hoper for that particular team. The Western Conference Rockets won the coin flip in 1984 but that's only part of the story. There were whispers the Rockets had been tanking late season games in an effort to ensure they finished with the worst record in the Western Conference. One particular late season game the Rockets had held a considerable lead against the Kansas City Kings. Rockets Coach Del Harris begin pulling his starters in the 3rd quarter, the Kings mounted a comeback and eventually won the game. After winning the coin toss the Rockets would draft 7-4 Ralph Sampson, College Player of the year and later to become NBA Rookie of the Year. A valuable "brick" in the rebuilding process of the Rockets.

For informational purposes I have been a fan of several all-time great players. Among them is Kareem Abdul Jabbar, don't need to detail his glowing record as player but the other issue. No one is sure why he chooses to blast Laker management at this stage of his life. He says in so many words "they don't appreciate me now that I can no longer play!" Statues have been erected outside and inside Staples of Magic Johnson, Jerry West and Laker broadcaster Chick Hern, he feels slighted he's not been honored in the same manner. I can't begin to see the real inside story I must assume there are valid reasons for this stance. Two years ago Kareem announced he had chronic myeloid leukemia, a rare form of cancer. The news was made public because he wanted to educate the public about the disease. Treatment has been successful to date and he should continue to live a normal life monitoring his health. We don't have time or space to delve into the psyche of Kareem but the younger version did indeed have people problems. To my knowledge these problems were never management or teammates they were the general public especially the media.


"A tough day at the office is even tougher when your OFFICE contains spectator seating."
-- Nik Posa