Ralph you missed the boat on this one

The NBA has been playing Christmas Day games every year since 1946. This is a response to Ralph Nader and his efforts to cancel NBA Games on Christmas. He made this suggestion but his reasoning is clearly flawed. Nader's past consumer efforts are to be applauded, he is one of the individuals most responsible for the safer automobiles many of us drive today. We truly appreciate your efforts to protect mankind, cancelling NBA games on Christmas is not a consumer protection issue!

"I don't get no respect!" "No respect, no respect at all...that's the story of my life."

For those unfamiliar with the phrase it was coined by the late comedian Rodney Dangerfield. During his stand up act at some point the audience knew he was going to drop that line. I think the line might fit for my Tigers, I've read several emails and listened to local talk radio and thought Mizzou needs a hug. If I landed on earth from another planet and read or heard many of the comments I would conclude Mizzou must have lost the game against Illinois. The national sports media seems to be more impressed with Mizzou than many in the Kansas City Metro. I must conclude most of the negative comments are coming from a westerly direction of my residence, you see I live about 3 miles east of State Line Road which divides the State of Missouri from that of Kansas. No team in the nation can sustain playing a a high level all the time, there are going to be games and periods of games where you don't play your best brand of basketball. I can admit Mizzou did not play it's best in the second half of the game. This is just a small sampling of several comments I read or heard since last Thursday. "They returned to Mike Anderson ball" or "Pressey (take your pick on which brother) didn't play well." "Ratliff has good hands, why did he not look for a guard rather than dribbling the ball himself?" In my best Dick Vitale impression, 12-0, "It's Awesome, baby! With a capital "A"!" Come on use your imagination please!

The good and the bad

I'm calling this to your attention due to my concern, my desire for Mizzou's basketball program to remain successful. Mizzou has recruited an apparent talent but an athlete of questionable character which concerns me. This is no intent to forecast doom and gloom just expressing a view. Jabari Brown a 6-4 205 pound shooting guard is headed for Mizzou next fall, that's the good. The bad, Brown left the University of Oregon after playing but two games this his freshman year. No official explanation was offered by coach Dana Altman for Brown leaving. His mom said "he made the decision to attend Oregon at 17," my response is "how does that weigh into his decision to leave after only two games?" That's only part of the problem, Brown attended three high schools before heading off to Oregon for this very brief stay. Brown is a talented guard from the Class of 2011 in fact Rivals gave him 5-stars.

Where are they
I didn't watch the program but the headline was interesting, "Where have all the big man gone"? That was the topic of discussion for an "Open Court" presentation on NBA TV. For a variety of reasons here are few who model their game after Wilt Chamberlain, Kareem Abdul Jabbar or Hakeem Olajuwon! In fact we might have been witness to the last dominant center with the retirement of Shaquille O' Neal. There is no one factor that's contributed to the lack of big men in today's game but rather a series of factors. One area is the Magic/MJ factor. In a the short period Magic Johnson and then Michael Jordan came into the NBA, both players were to dominate the game from the guard position. Dominate as both were key to a succession of championships for the Lakers and Bulls. The NBA has always had guards with leadership skills but none ever dominated the game from the backcourt as these two did. The nearest equivalent earlier might have been Oscar Robertson who once averaged a triple double for an entire season. The 3-point line might be another contributing factor, the shot certainly added a different element to the game. Someplace in the middle '80's, 6-10, 6-11 and 7 foot guys began drifting out toward that line. Talented as they are we have Dirk Nowitzki, Pau Gasol and other 7-footers now as power forwards rather than centers. In the late '70's or '80's any player above 6-10 was automatically deemed to play the center position, that view no longer holds universal validity. Finally the last factor there are no more or better yet few Pete Newell's around. For a significant number of years former Cal coach Pete Newell ran a "Big Man's Camp." Newell and his staff worked with big men, high school, collegiate and NBA players over the course of a summer. These big men were taught the finer points of play for the center position, one thing I'm sure Newell's staff had no one standing anyplace near the 3-point line taking shots.

What can "Brown" do for you
The new look Lakers will probably have an old look! Phil Jackson's triangle offense is no longer in place, at this point I'm unsure what the offense will resemble. Coach Mike Brown indicates he wants a speedier team on the court, I think we can conclude the defense will be raised slightly over that of last season. In addition there is an interesting change with Lamar Odom no longer around. Brown provided the Los Angeles Times with his preliminary lineup. Guess what, the usual suspects are in place with slight modifications. In place, Bryant, Bynum, Gasol and Fisher, substitute Matt Barnes, Luke Walton or 2nd year man Devin Ebanks at the small forward. The speedy Ebanks was the starting small forward for their first pre-season game, this would be a move Phil Jackson (who loved veterans) wouldn't have done. You ask where in the world is Metta World Peace a.k.a. Ron Artest? Brown indicates Peace or Artest whatever name you prefer will assume the role previously held by Lamar Odom, the role as leader of the second unit. Brown indicates he thinks a.k.a. will have more scoring opportunities with the second unit. Considering we are talking Steve Blake, Josh McRoberts and Jason Kapono it sounds reasonable. (12/15/11 Los Angeles Times)

Pac 12
What in the world has occurred with Pac 12 basketball? Maybe no once thing has caused the conference to slide ever so slowly into the Pacific Ocean. Maybe it's just coming back to earth, back in the mid '60's many often said the conference wasn't really that good. They said it was Wooden's UCLA teams and all the rest. To a degree that might have been fact, UCLA basketball certainly dominated the NCAA's winning it's first championship in 1964 and nine more through 1975. Beginning In the '80's as UCLA came down to earth other Pac 10 teams began to rise and flex their muscles. Arizona, Stanford, Oregon and Southern Cal had begin to experience success on the court the only problem none appeared sustaining it over a period of time. I'm not talking about a UCLA run of the '70's I'm talking Carolina, Kentucky type success. Coaching changes might have been a contributing factor, Mike Montgomery leaving Stanford, Jim Harrick at UCLA, Arizona's Lute Olson retiring. The almost constant revolving door at Southern Cal with it's program and eventual NCAA problems. It was almost painful to watch Kansas destroy Southern Cal, that Cal team might have problems with a good high school team. As indicated earlier it wasn't always this way, this is the same conference that once could boast it has sent the greatest number of players to the NBA. This is the conference that produced Kareem Abdul Jabbar, Gary Payton and Reggie Miller just to name a few.

Somebody else is upset too
You might have thought the Lakers were the only one's pissed at David Stern's dictatorship. Not so according to Royce Young of CBSSports.com per the Houston Chronicle. The report indicates the Rockets particularly owner Leslie Alexander is totally pissed at David Stern. The report claims he will continue to voice his complaints to other NBA owners. If true report is true it confirms all is not well among all the NBA owners, Stern tried to make it clear he was acting in the "best interest" of the NBA. A better story might be David Stern was acting in the best interest of Dan Gilbert and perhaps a number of other unidentified owners. Another website IamaGM.com claims David Stern wouldn't return a phone call from Alexander. You think the NBA has problems now, it was about to disappear from sight when Stern took over as commissioner. The NBA championship tape delayed broadcast because the league has reached such low esteem with the public. Drug problems, poor ownership and other issues were key to the general public ignoring the NBA. Along comes David Stern he instituted policy changes which affected change. He was added by Magic Johnson and Larry Bird coming into the league, many had followed their collegiate careers and were anxious to continue their careers. David Stern once saved the NBA but the time has come for him to step down as commissioner to save it again.