Evidently Heat President Pat Riley is paying no attention to Jason Whitlock. Riley's on record stating he has no intention of trading any members of the trio of Wade, James and Bosh. Monday after the Heat lost the NBA championship Whitlock wrote "the trio of Wade, James and Bosh will not work. One of them must be traded" so wrote Whitlock. As critical as I have been regarding the Heat I agree with Riley. This team played for an NBA championship something most of us thought unreasonable just a few months back. The Heat have issues (coaching, leadership) but these and other issues are not insurmountable. I know this sounds strange coming from me but I must call it as I see it. One other point if you read Whitlock have you noticed he almost always manages to throw in something related to football, strippers or Sarah Palin in his columns? But I guess he really doesn't know, his June 6 headline read, "Finals entertaining, but Mavs are done."

My friend Sean might be a little upset with this story, 6-5 Auburn guard Earnest Ross is transferring to Mizzou. Not the big man many fans hoped would arrive but Ross must address a concern of Haith and staff. Ross led Auburn in scoring 13.1 points per game and rebounding 6.6 and was second on the team in steals. Ross will sit out the 2011-12 season but will be available for the next two seasons.

Sam Mellinger Star columnist wrote an interesting article the other day. Those of us who are NBA fans have long held out hope that an NBA team would eventually find a home in Kansas City. The same is true for NHL 21 and others desiring an NHL franchise here. Mellinger makes several points that AEG has been the key stumbling block to gaining either franchise. The four year old arena has been profitable for both AEG and the city, he pointed out as long as the profits are rolling in there is no desire on AEG's part for a major tenant. Over the years there have been several NBA and NHL stories but few have had "legs." Does Mellinger's story have validity, based on our four year old NHL history I could say yes? There will be no response from AEG because there is no need. AEG has the keys to the automobile and they are in the driver's seat, Kansas City metro citizens are standing by the side of the road hoping for a ride.

As I write this I realize one of my readers once played for Quin Snyder at Mizzou. Rob you know a side of Snyder few of us know and I don't think he's a bad guy, I do have continuing questions on his coaching skills. Snyder met recently with Laker coach Mike Brown, and by all accounts will probably be hired as an assistant coach. After he quit Mizzou at some point in mid season Snyder began coaching in the NBA Developmental League. He left the Austin franchise for the 76ers and the NBA as an assistant coach. I was less than enthusiastic with the Brown hire but this one I really question. On the other hand hopefully he's acquired additional knowledge since his Mizzou days.


"I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel."
- Maya Angelou (1928-)