Texas basketball

Football is king in Texas, the "Friday Night Lights" view of the sport has probably cemented that in the public's mind. The University of Texas network tried in vain to include high school games in it's broadcast schedule. Ask Gary Pinkel Mizzou's football coach, a considerable number of his players have come from the state of Texas. Football is the number one sport in the state and will remain forever. There is a high school and AAU basketball presence that has become quite significant over the years. Mizzou and other schools across the country scour the state for basketball talent as much as they do for football. Texans matriculate across the country playing basketball at universities both large and small. An infinite number of these players have reached the highest level that is an NBA career. NBA players born in Texas include LaMarcus Aldridge, Grant Hill, Stephen Jackson, Chris Bosh and Mike Dunleavy just to name a few.

So verrrry slooooooow!

I know you are tired of my rant and so am I. Why in the world is it taking the NCAA so very long to settle it's investigation of Mizzou's Frank Haith. I never thought of a time limit however I thought the NCAA would do what it said it would do. Surely by the time basketball practice begins he'll either be found guilty or innocent, well we have arrived there. When you read this Mizzou will have had at least 2 or 3 practices and still no word from the NCAA. The real problem, in this day of character assassination a percentage of folks have already made up their minds---he's guilty. Over the years I've attempted to be objective regarding all news stories, I might think the person or persons are guilty but without all the facts how can I or anybody else pronounce judgment? The shame of it all, if Haith is found innocent a large percentage of the populace will never believe it. Why do I make that statement, we have a number of folks that believe the Moon Landings were televised from a Hollywood studio.

A time you having nothing but time!

Did you tuned into all last Friday's Midnight Madness? I watched maybe two hours of the four hour telecast, what I found interesting was the number of NBA players at various universities. I saw Carmelo Anthony at Syracuse and Vince Carter at North Carolina. Again I didn't view all four hours of the telecast, ESPNU cameras were in Lexington Kentucky and Storrs Connecticut there were probably NBA alum at Kentucky and UConn. Somewhat connected to this story was a barbershop discussion, we've concluded with schools leaving conference _____ for conference_____ eventually we'll have four super conferences instead of the present number. We might be overstating the issue a bit but anytime a Boise State (west coast) school is mentioned being added to the Big East Conference geography is tossed right out the window. Someone mentioned for all practical purposes Mizzou's teams could ride a bus to any Big 12 location. In the Southeastern Conference a bus ride is possible however it would be a great deal more time consuming. Of course the argument is invalid, everyone travels by air today.

Finger pointing

Have you noticed this? Since the first two weeks of the NBA season have been cancelled how each side has begun pointing fingers? Can we trust David Stern's view of the lockout, after all he works for the owners? How about Derek Fisher and Billy Hunter who spout the union line! How about both sides stop pointing fingers and sit down at the bargaining table with the intent to get a deal done. I believe neither side sees how serious their reputation is damaged in the publics eye. In any event take a look how Taiwan portrays the NBA Lockout, very funny!      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2bPSrfycLk

Is business really bad?

It was announced by the NBA Board of Governors the 76ers have been sold. Comcast-Spectacor sold the team to buyout specialist Joshua Harris, he is one of the founders of Apollo Global Management. An interesting picture which I've tried to paint previously. If (NBA) ownership is such a risk why do teams stay on the market such a limited amount of time? My home is in fairly good shape should I decide to sell it. I'd be willing to bet in this down economy my home would stay on the market longer than any NBA franchise. Maybe that's not a good analogy but I hope you get the point. A sidebar to this story, "The Fresh Prince" Will Smith was announced as a minority investor in the team. Smith thus maintains his Philly connection.

Finally

Ever wondered why Words eye view sometimes reads different in the afternoon versus your morning reading? As much as I try sometimes a misspelled word will slip through, sometimes I will re-read a story and say to myself: "I'm not sure if the point is clear to the reader." Often I will revisit a story sometimes even a day later and rewrite portions of it, so don't worry it's not you it's me.

"This year we plan to run and shoot. Next season we hope to run and score."---Billy Tubbs former Oklahoma coach