Basketball from a fans perspective   

Published Monday through Friday

No retirement for now

The Warriors Steph Curry has reached the top of the world in basketball or at least that was the thought. Only the honor of being enshrined in the Naismith Hall of Fame awaited the point guard. Oh, you say there is another distinction missing Curry is yet to receive. Yes, there is the jersey Steph wore while he played at Davidson. Depending on the school an athlete must have received his degree for his jersey to be retired. Despite Steph’s outstanding pro career with the Warriors that jersey might be retired prior to the one he wore at Davidson. Two things could take place, Steph could return to school and receive his undergraduate degree, or the policy might change allowing his jersey to be retired.

Batman and Robin---apparently not the case!

Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen were keys to the championship run of the Bulls in the ‘90’s. We always believed MJ was Batman with Scottie taking on the role of Robin, we have since discovered all is not good between the two. Perhaps it was always there but the ESPN series Last Dance might have opened a festering wound. On television and in the media, Scottie began to distance himself from MJ in speaking of his time with the Bulls. Scottie detailed the day-to-day actions of MJ and Bulls management and how it affected him.

In fact, if we took a poll currently most believe the two might not like one another although it certainly was clear on the basketball court. All we can do at this point is guess why this rift has developed between the two. Perhaps it was there all along and we just never noticed it. Speaking of tossing folks under the bus Scottie moved on to his days with the Houston Rockets. Scottie claims the 1997-98 Rockets Super Team he joined was a failure, the team had “an old Hakeem Olajuwon and Charles Barkley’s lack of dedication”, Pippen’s words not mine. In closing one point is clear, have you noticed nary a word spoken from MJ on his former teammate? We can conclude it’s clear MJ doesn’t care what Scottie has to say at this time.

The decision 

Two talented NBA players are sidelined, and neither one is injured. We know the story on Kyrie Irving, no requirement to detail that any further…no movement exists. The other is Sixer Ben Simmons who is still incognito. We don’t have all the details on Simmons, nor do we need to detail them here. It was thought by many (including this writer) this issue would be resolved by the middle of November. Although I once believed the issues with Simmons and the Sixers would be worked out that apparently is not the case.

Simmons is still an incredibly talented athlete despite his poor to average ability to shoot from anywhere over 15 feet. If I’m the GM of X team I refuse to gut my team to obtain Simmons however I would certainly try a trade to get his services. The problem at this point apparently is a meeting of the minds, talk with teams hasn’t progressed to an acceptable level to arrange a trade. This part is pure speculation by me however I believe this next statement to be true. Ben Simmons would prefer to play anyplace in the NBA except in Philadelphia.

Hair

The title is not a reference to the 1968 Broadway Rock Musical with the same title. In this instance the discussion is hair on the head or in the case of athletes such as Michael Jordan no hair. In this age, the shaved or bald look is in vogue with athletes. We see a delegation of athletes with dreadlocks, braids, cornrows, ponytails, Afros and other hair styles. Hair rarely causes an issue in the workplace except on occasion, this account is one example. A local high school basketball coach decided in addition to his focus on offense and defense he would emphasis hair stylings for his team. “Each athlete will maintain a neat, well-trimmed haircut”, as the Kansas City Star noted “What defines neat and well-trimmed?”

The only problem the coaches edict violated a school district policy already in place prohibiting discrimination based on the choice of one’s hairstyle. Is this a cultural issue since the coach is white and there are black team members? There is no quarrel on my part with the coach in one instance, a coach oversees team policy, he becomes the decider on policy except in this instance. He cannot enforce any rule which violates that in place by a higher authority, in this instance we are discussing the power of the school district. We should take one fact into consideration we (especially in America) are living in a different age. You might read this account and claim we are usurping the authority of the coach; we believe that is not the case. If you disagree with my take that’s okay too.