Bits n Pieces

I will revisit this story briefly, I will cover it in more detail later. Isn't it interesting we heard nothing from Kobe when Odom and Gasol where headed elsewhere for Chris Paul? Once Odom was traded for draft choices it's a problem for him (and others).

Consumer advocate Ralph Nader has decided David Stern is the Grinch who stole Christmas. Nader's written a letter to the commish asking him to cancel the Christmas day and evening games. His reasoning, "players and fans want to be home with their families." Players have no choice but how much time are we talking 5-6 hours total? Arena personal are working too but after missing games due to the Lockout do you think many would complain about working Christmas? As for fans they actually have a choice either they stay home or chose the games. Even funnier Nader seems to think a Christmas night NFL game is okay, "most of the days activities are over" he states. Hopefully you figure out what Nader is attempting? I sure can't and my memory says this is the second time Nader has interjected himself as a "consumer" advocate into the NBA. As of this date there's been no response from the NBA offices or the commish.

I read on CBSSports.com "Mid-Major report", exactly what is a mid-major report? Mid-major is the term applied to "smaller" Division I teams, everyone who follows basketball under the age of 40 is familiar with the term. My point, once upon a time there was no such thing you simply competed. Example, Wichita State has a student enrollment of nearly 15,000 but is considered mid-major, the number is larger than the population of many towns in this nation. Once upon a time only NAIA schools by definition were considered "small."

Michael Jordan's former agent David Falk was on CNBC recently. Falk was interviewed on Darrin Rovell's program and made several interesting comments. Chief comment of note, "superstar players such as Kobe Bryant, LeBron James and Dwayne Wade are underpaid!" It's his view they and other superstars are underpaid based on the amount of NBA revenue attributed to their appearances. You can debate that one among each other, no comment from this corner of the room.

I hope ESPN's Jay Bilas isn't the human version of the Sports Illustrated jinx. For those unfamiliar with the story teams and individuals appearing on the cover of the magazine have had future misfortune. In years past Bilas has always been complimentary on Mizzou basketball but I never remember him stating he thought it was outstanding. He now states on ESPN.com "Mizzou can win the Big XII."

"A setback is a setup for a comeback" Pastor T.D. Jakes. The quote of Jakes certainly applies to Richard J. "DickieV" Vitale. After the NBA Pistons fired him he was talked into working for a fledgling cable sports network. After being fired he wanted the Rutgers job and had applied for the position of head coach. Fast forward to the present, December 5, 2011 the University of Detroit dedicated the "Dick Vitale Court" prior to a scheduled game. His collegiate success at the university had led him to be hired as head coach of the NBA Pistons in 1978. Unfortunately his collegiate success did not follow him into the NBA, about a month after he was fired December 5, 1979 to be exact Vitale began working as a basketball analysis for a new cable network with the initials ESPN. I think we can all state with conviction working for ESPN has gained him more notoriety than his past two coaching stops.

Do you remember
The line from Forrest Gump, "life's like a box of chocolates you never know what you gonna get." This 6-8 240 pound forward arrived on the campus of the University of Missouri after two seasons at Central Florida Community College so he was no fuzzy faced kid. Most nights Ricardo Ratliffe is matched up against the oppositions center, this due to lack of size and depth in the middle. December 7 Ratliffe is currently scoring at 14.2 points per game, 7.1 rebounds, his field goal percentage a sizzling 77.3. He's got one of the most unorthodox shots I've witnessed but it seems to go in, check out his field goal percentage. His game reminds me of former Knick Anthony Mason, limited leaping ability but extremely difficult to push him around in the paint. Several mock draft sites consider Ratliffe a "tweener" with no apparent NBA position. Not strong enough or large enough to play power forward yet not swift enough as a small forward.

How important
I'm back again with the same question, the importance of early season polls and polls in general and are they really that important? Polls tend to affect our assessment of a teams quality perhaps unfairly at times. It seems (true or untrue) basketball polls are more fluid that football. I would ask my football friends if the BCS status of a school plays any part in this. "The Rating Percentage Index, commonly known as the RPI, is a quantity used to rank sports teams based upon a team's wins and losses and it's strength of schedule. It is one of the systems by which NCAA basketball and baseball teams are ranked. This system has been in use in college basketball since 1981." If the RPI is used as a measuring stick it's far more valuable than a Top 25 which often becomes a "popularity poll." Coaches during the season with their teams games, travel and the other cannot possibly squeeze in enough time to say in a serious manner "I've seen all these teams play during the week!" (Wikipedia) NOTE: RPI after 8 games, Mizzou 32 KU 44

$$$$$
How do you pay for a $1 billion dollar arena? You pay for it by attempting to lure every event possible to your building, marketing of the Barclays Center is just that. The Legends Classic basketball tournament which has had three homes in five years all in New Jersey will be moving to the Barclays Center for 2012. The
semi-finals and finals of this 12-team tournament will be played in the Barclays Center according to the Washington Post. The field of teams will not be announced until next spring.

"Winning is habit. Unfortunately, so is losing.
Vince Lombardi