It’s time for a good house-cleaning this morning. Here goes:
1. Although I do believe there is something to be said for giving people a second chance, I am not sure
P.J. Carlesimo is that deserving of one. Obviously, Carlesimo is best-known for being the human punching bag for a seriously-enraged Latrell Sprewell. But besides that, he was a mostly mediocre head coach for the Portland Trailblazers and Golden State Warriors, a guy who compiled a career 183-222 (.452) record and never won a playoff series in three tries (3-9; .250).
Sure his last shot as a head coach came during the 1999-2000 season and a lot of time has passed. But what makes Carlesimo more qualified to be a head coach today? His association with the San Antonio Spurs, a team he joined in 2003, obviously helps. But do we know more about Carlesimo besides the fact that he wasn’t a good head coach the first time around? Does the fact that, at least on the surface, his players really didn’t appreciate his dictatorial method of leadership come into play? Do we consider this, even if it’s nearly ancient history at this point?
The Sonics are a team in transition, having lost their two best players, forced to rebuild on the fly with #2 pick Kevin Durant and #5 pick Jeff Green. There’s a good chance the team won’t be in Seattle for much longer. Is it in these young guys’ best interest to be coached by a guy who comes in with a mediocre track record and a dubious reputation?
2. Continuing with the Sonics for a moment, I’m really at a loss for what has transpired up in Seattle. Trading Ray Allen for Jeff Green made some sense because, if nothing else, it freed up some money to keep Rashard Lewis. Apparently Lewis wasn’t interested in staying in the Emerald City and
picked sunny Orlando instead.
Shouldn’t Seattle have been a bit more aggressive in securing Lewis? Shouldn’t they have tried to lock Lewis up before executing the trade with Boston that sent Ray Allen to the Celtics? This reminds me of the summer free agency frenzy of 2000 when Orlando signed Tracy McGrady and traded for Grant Hill in the hopes of convincing Tim Duncan to join them in the Magic Kingdom. Back then, it seemed ridiculous to me that the Magic would unload their entire team for Grant Hill without having secured a promise from Tim Duncan beforehand (Hill and Duncan shared an agent at the time so back-channel communications would’ve been quite easy). We all know how that story turned out.
Then, as now, it seems to me like someone forgot to do their homework. Seattle should’ve had a better grasp of Lewis’s desires before they traded Allen. Now they went from a lucky lottery team with a bright future to a team that might be competitive 3-4 years down the road if Durant and Green pan out. In the meantime, they’re awfully young and inexperienced and shouldn’t expect to improve on last year’s 31-51 record.
3. As many might’ve noticed, I’m not blogging about baseball all that much this year. The reason, as should’ve been easy to guess, is because the Yanks suck and my interest in the sport is on hiatus. Yes, I follow the major stories every day and I’m still keenly aware of everything from a fantasy baseball perspective. But I can’t get too emotional or invested in the 2007 season since I know that the playoffs aren’t coming to Yankee Stadium this year. For that reason, I’ve got nothing to say about the All-Star Game or the annual mockery that is made of the roster selection process. As long as the AL beats the NL, I’ll be satisfied.
4. There’s talk that
Isiah is exploring a Ron Artest-to-New York trade scenario. Apparently the Kings would take Jared Jeffries, Nate Robinson, and Randolph Morris and send the sociopath with All-Star talent back to his hometown.
Certainly the airwaves and internet will be rife with criticism should the Knicks pull this off. And it’s no secret that I’m something of an Isiah apologist. I would love for this trade to happen. The talent on the Knicks roster would be hard to argue against. As I’ve said before, not one player on Isiah’s teams in Toronto, Indiana, or New York has ever demonstrated issues of bad character or bad behavior. For whatever else his perceived shortcomings might be, his players relate well to his life, experiences, and playing career and he manages to get more out of them than other coaches.
I argued against giving P.J. Carlesimo a second chance but I think Artest and Zach Randolph should be given clean slates in New York if they end up being teammates. It’s been three years since Randolph got into any trouble and, in Artest’s case, he made his bones as an All-Star caliber player for Isiah’s Pacers. I’d love to see this happen.
5. Finally, a little rant on something totally unrelated to sports. Ted Nugent, 1970’s and 80’s heavy metal guitarist, wrote
an opinion column in the Tuesday edition of the Wall Street Journal. It’s hard to imagine reading something more offensive and more outrageous than this in a normally-intelligent newspaper like the Journal.
Nugent is certainly entitled to his opinion with respect to the quality of music produced during the so-called Summer of Love of 1967. I would quarrel with his depiction of the “mostly soulless rock music that flourished in San Francisco” seeing as though the improvisational psychedelia of ’67 drew its roots from jazz and blues, considered the most soulful of American musical genres.
The offensive portion of his column isn’t his misguided view of the quality of music. To me, the real crime is in his depiction of the era and the negative views and disdain he holds for his peers of the day. “[S]toned, dirty, stinky hippies… [t]urned off by the work ethic and productive American Dream values of their parents, [they] instead opted for a cowardly, irresponsible lifestyle of random sex, life-destroying drugs…” What a way to describe an entire population. Certainly, there were hordes of people who were less interested in social activism and were instead drawn to the casual attitudes that surrounded the Summer of 1967. But can hedonism be described as cowardly and irresponsible? Is everything we do requiring of a purpose? Is there no good that can come out of pleasure for pleasure’s sake? Certainly an artist like Ted Nugent – and despite his rigid point of view, Nugent is an artist – should be able to appreciate the aesthetic qualities of freedom and creativity. And every artist requires inspiration, something that San Francisco’s permissive climate surely afforded to all.
Nugent’s assault on “hippies” as the cause for the death of the American Dream, and the “rising rates of divorce, high school drop outs, drug use, abortion, sexual diseases and crime, not to mention the exponential expansion of government and taxes” would be hysterical if not so tragic. Not only does he forget to attribute the Vietnam War and other global economic and political crises as potential causes for government expansion and increased taxation, he clearly demonstrates no ability to comprehend the need for human self-expression and rebellion. I’ll bet it would be quite instructive to ask the elder Mr. and Mrs. Nugent what their feelings are on Ted’s long hair and rock-and-roll lifestyle.
The bottom line is that, on July 4th, a date which is intended to celebrate our national independence through the ideals of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, it is galling that an arch-conservative like Nugent would speak to us as if he were King George III. Our republic is in need of repairs, thanks to a corrupt and destructive ruling party and an ineffectual and slovenly opposition. But this is not the fault of those perhaps misguided idealist souls of the 1960’s.
Look around, Nuge, the country is in the shitter because of guys like you who can’t accept that there is more than one way to skin a cat. The social experiment of 1967 didn’t pan out the way it was intended to. But neither has the War on Terror or the Christian Right’s family values agenda. The American Dream is alive and well, you’re just too straight-laced to realize it.
TV remote Indy and New England are playoff bound. So what about the others? In Part I of me practicing the great craft of writing, its of focus on the AFC (or what we in the stock business call not the insane randomness that is the NFC) lets discuss who's falling .
suffocating defense is all back except for Adalalius Thomas. Willis Mcgahee gives them far more speed and ability for swing passes compared to Jamal Lewis. However here are two factors going against them. First, Pittsburgh and Cinci will probably be better this year as both Palmer and Rothlisberger are actually starting the season healthy. Second, they need Steve Mcnair to be healthy. McNair somehow escaped injury last year but any bets on if he can do it two year's in a row? And anyone have confidence in Kyle (What me worry) Boller or that state traitor I mean Troy Smith? So The Raven Droppings maybe aren't a sure thing…. 
14 win won. They have the talent on offense, defense and special teams. So why the pause? Jay Cutler has a season under his belt but more importantly the coaching turnover. San Diego lost its head coach, offensive coordinator, defensive coordinator, heck they lost their tight ends coach. That's a lot of turnover. And the new regime of Norv Turner and Ted Cattrell don't exactly have a shining resume of previous success. So how much does coaching matter? 
