The real story of the NBA Finals' Game 3

I watched game 3 last night, listened to the horrendous commentating by Mark Jackson and Jeff Van Gundy, listened to all of the sports talk shows today, and have not heard the first intelligent word, phrase, or sentence concerning the game. People in this country have next to nil basketball knowledge. Therefore, I'm here to provide for you a truthful account of the hows and whys of last night's game.

First off, too much has been made of Orlando's amazing shooting percentage, 62.5% from the field, 76.7% inside the 3 point arc. The argument has run like this..... 'The magic had to have the best shooting game in NBA Finals history just to beat the Lakers." Well, yeah, and in Game 2 it took the Lakers overtime to beat a team that didn't shoot nearly as well AND had over 20 turnovers. So what's your point?

Let me enlighten the "experts" on TV that the point they are missing is that this is the WORST defense in NBA finals history by both teams! Neither of these teams can guard a toilet see! The Orlando Magic shot such a blistering percentage because they had better offensive spacing in game 3 than in the first two games and were not guarded. It opened up early outside shooting opportunities and that opened up driving lanes for Rafer Alston and Turkoglu. When you repeatedly put pressure on the paint every trip, scoring becomes easy. Not a single expert has had the basketball knowledge to mention that little fact.

What they have concentrated on was Kobe Bryant. Was it his fault or not? Is he tired or not? Can he do it by himself or not? Well, the answers are Yes, it doesn't matter, and no! Yes it was his fault they lost! He played like shit! Kobe played bad! For you L.A. and Kobe fans who didn't have a heart attack from someone saying that, let me explain why. Kobe too twice as many shots as any of his teammates. Kobe made 7 of his first 9 shots, but then only made 4 or his next 16, one of which was a basket with a half second left that was meaningless. So he had essentially gone 3 of 15 after his first half flurry. Meanwhile, his teammate Pau Gasol went 9 of 11. I.e., he took 11 shots and made 9 of them. By not giving Pau Gasol the ball more, the Lakers are cutting their own throat. Gasol is the ideal center to run the triangle offense through. He's mobile and skilled. As for Kobe being tired, you're not tired if you go 3-15 down the stretch. Yeah, he's played more games than anyone in the last 24 months, but a few games ago he went for 40! 24 months of fatigue didn't suddenly catch up with him in 24 minutes of the second half. Obviously sports writers with 40+ inch waist know little about fintess and conditioning.

Furthermore, Dwight Howard has not fared well when guarding him. Howard is more athletic, stronger, and quicker, but Gasol is smarter and more skilled.

"The big strong guys are always taking from the little guys, but the smart guys, they take from every body." - Pete Carril

What the legendary Princeton coach was saying there, and his teams proved time and again, was that you didn't have to be the best athlete if you had skill and played intelligently. That's what Gasol does, and he can eat the Magic alive whether Howard or anyone else is guarding him. If I were Phil Jackson, we would have a rule, unless it was a fast break bucket, or a lay up, no one shot until the ball had gone through Gasol. If the Lakers did this, they would notice that they were beating the Magic by about 22 points a game! Kobe would get his points on less shots because he wouldn't have to work as hard for them, and this series would be over a lot sooner than it otherwise will be. Gasol is the ideal player to run the Triangle Offense through.

As mentioned, the defense by both teams in this series is atrocious. The help defense by both teams is rare if ever existent. What's more, I've seen more bad pick and rolls by the Magic lead to baskets than I can count, but the Lakers have struggled with the pick and roll throughout the playoffs. If the Magic could dress out John Stockton and Karl Malone for the next three games this series would get silly!

The Magic offense, as mentioned had better spacing for game three which was responsible for the easier shots of which they certainly made. However, they have one of the biggest and most athletic players in the league on the post, and rarely throw him the ball on the block. They typically throw it to Howard on a hi-lo weak side pin, or on the roll of a pick and roll. By doing so this rarely gives the other team time to double team him. Double teams on Howard would give the other perimeter players for Orlando open shots and driving lanes. Now, there is the problem that Howard is not nearly as skilled as Gasol. He is limited offensively. Largely because he has never been truly coached. His only real move is a running hook that he has worked on, but short arms often. He also drops the ball too low too often for guards to swipe at and he spends too much time and too many dribbles gathering himself due to poor footwork. It would behoove Howard to spend the summer watching footwork from old films of Kevin McHale, Bill Walton, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and Hakeem Olajouwan. They did in 3 steps what it takes Howard to do in 5-7 steps. However, despite his offensive limitations, give him the ball enough on the post and he will command attention. After all Shaquille is still limited offensively, and very few teams choose to NOT double him, even though he's 76 now! But, Magic maintain the good spacing and you'll have a chance to win any game.

Lamar Odom has had a pretty good series. He's shooting a good percentage and making some plays, in fact, you might could argue that along with Gasol, he should be getting more touches in scoring range. However, again, this is due to bad defense and possibly scouting by the Magic. If Odom ever loses use of his left hand he will be able to neither brush his teeth or wipe his ass! Magic defenders, make Odom go right! He will not score!

Now, back to Mr. Bryant, the most beloved player of sports commentators since his Airness.... Here's some advice Kobe..... Instead of trying to go out and win this championship without Shaq and all of that other nonsensical media BS...... Go try to get a triple double! You have guys on your team that can flat score the ball! Derek Fisher rarely misses a big shot late in games. Odom finishes well, you have some decent shooters, and Gasol is the most underused scorer in the game. You don't have to shoot 25 shots a game, in fact, you're hurting your team! It was your fault that the Lakers lost that game. Get Gasol the ball more. He needs 17+ shots a game! Maybe 25, he shoots an incredible percentage and puts pressure on the paint. Putting pressure on the paint is the ONLY key necessity for a successful offense in basketball. Fall away jumpers from 22 feet don't put pressure on the paint.

Open letter to LeBron James

LeBron,

You've had a hell of a year! You are the best in the world at what you do! So far in your career you have also proven to not only be a heck of an athlete, but an outstanding role model for children, as well as a likable personality for fans. With unimaginable media attention and scrutiny, you take everything in stride. You are to be commended for that.

Your team is currently down 3-2 to the Orlando Magic in the Eastern Conference Finals. You may still come back, win the series and the the NBA Championship. I wish you the best in that pursuit. However, after this season you are going to be faced with a big decision. What to do with the rest of your career.

You are under contract with Cleveland for only one more year. They may try to lock you up in a long term deal this summer. Don't fall for it! Wait and go free agent next year. You are going to win championships whereever you play, it's just a matter of how many. Get out of Cleveland! Danny Ferry is a bad GM, despite his Executive of the Year award. You won him that award.The team he has put around you is silly! You are a point guard! There's no reason to have a short player on the court called point guard that doesn't play point guard. You need to play for a GM that will put a big guard (that can shoot) on the court with you, and a forward that has size, or at least height comparable to your own and is versatile. Think Shane Battier type of a player.

The sheer size of such a lineup would cause untold match up problems for other teams. During Shaquille's era in Orlando, Penny Hardaway, Nick Anderson, and Dennis Scott were all 6'7" or taller and created match up problems that propelled them to the finals.

However, despite being surrounded with inferior players you are also hampered by an inferior coach. Despite any personal feelings you may have for him, Mike Brown is a horrendous coach. I could go on for days about basic coaching mistakes he makes, but it would be pointless. He doesn't even get you the ball in position for you to create effectively, you have to work to get there yourself. Furthermore he doesn't use the players on your team in a way in which they can effectively compliment you as well as they could. Spacing is often horrendous, they move without the ball poorly when moving effectively would provide themselves with additional scoring oppurtunities via your pass. Team defense is unsightly. Help is always a step late if it gets there at all. Again, I could go on for days, but I digress.

As to where you should go.... Not New York! It would be worst than staying in Cleveland, sports writers would love the story, but New York has been a consistently inept organization. They have a new and very good GM and Coach, but you don't want anything to do with New York. Even when they have had talent through the years, New York has had the tendency to smother players with the glitz of the city.

You and Dwight Howard in Orlando would be unbeatable, lots of records, lots of rings, and lots of wins. Don't go to a team like New Orleans. Chris Paul is an excellent player, but he's a point guard and so are you!

A team and particularly coach that would fit you well would be Utah! Jerry Sloan is the best coach in the NBA. He wins 50 games and goes to the playoffs every single year, with talent or without! Now idiots will tell you that it's a small market, unlike New York, L.A., or Chicago and that that's bad. Yeah, whatever, you'll make the market big. They're going to televise your games more than any other player, the media isn't going to forget about you in a smaller market, so go where you want! But again, Sloan is the best in the business.

Another gripe about a small market is that they can't pay you as much as a bigger market team with tons of cap room like New York. What idiots that would suggest such a thing can't comprehend is that your basketball money is merely going to pay the taxes on your endorsement deals, that will grow if you go to a team that provides you a good coach and teammates and allows you to win many rings.

Therefore, I wish you well in your decision and simply caution you to stay away from Cleveland and New York.

Yours Respectfully,

Todd Wilson

Random musings of current affairs.

Just some random thoughts about things in the media.

First we have this woman and her 13 year old son with cancer who are on the run for refusing cancer treatment. There's a ton of issues here that make this a very cloudy, very weird, and very uncertain situation. First the idiots in the media are searching for an absolute answer as to what SHOULD be done. The media always wants definite, absolute, cut and dry, black and white answers in this grey world we live in. That's why the media as a whole rarely gets anything right, and many media outlets are struggling financially.....

But back to this boy... first off, let me state that the mother sounds like a weird, granola eating, tree hugging, conspiracy theorists believing, latter day pot smoking hippie that got her pot and her LSD mixed up! A warrant has been issued for her arrest as she has fled with her cancer stricken 13 year old to avoid court ordered medical treatment.

However, I don't know about this legal precedent! I think that with this relatively curable form of cancer, that the boy should be taking the chemotherapy treatments. However, at the same time I don't want a court telling me I have to have or that I cannot have a medical procedure performed. The boy is 13 years old, at 13 he has an understanding of the consequences of his actions in this. He understands the differentiations of life, death, and suffering. Even if the cancer is treatable, if the treatments were so uncomfortable that he decided he had rather die than suffer through them in an attempt to live, then that should be a choice the court respects and accepts. Because he is not 18 does not mean that he is not capable of making a rational decision concerning his life! At age 13 I knew that I would not want to exist on life support! I can also imagine that I could make a decision on how much suffering I would be willing to endure to live. This is a terrible situation to examine this issue, but unless I am a public health risk, mandating treatment seems to interfere with inalienable rights. One could certainly argue neglect in the case of the mother not providing the opportunity for her son to have treatment, but the kid is 13. He is capable of decisions whether you or I agree with them.

However, before you can accept a 13 year old's decision on a matter as significant as this he must be given all the facts by medical staff, and he should then make such a decision with family and that EDUCATED decision should stand. However, an educated decision doesn't appear to have been made here.

Apparently the mother has an irrational fear, trust, and/or dislike for modern medicine, choosing instead to practice some sort of natural "holistic" treatments of some obscure Indian tribe. Note to you you crazy women...... That Indian tribe's medicinal knowledge has largely been lost over the course of the last 100 years. Sad but so! I am a great believer in alternative medicine and treatments, as I have seen some unique circumstances in which the approach was superior to conventional methods. However, I have also seen wacked out nuts die due to irrational beliefs such as yours. Some one with an infection needs penecilin, not a chant to the sun god along with some pine needle tea!

The intelligent person recognizes that alternative medicine has a place, and that modern medicine doesn't have a monopoly on medical knowledge. However, it is the marriage of the two methodologies as opposed to their estrangement that allows for the best possible outcome.

I am afraid that whatever the decision of this 13 year old, he has been inappropriately influenced in his decision making by the ignorance of his mother. The sad part is that ignorant people make ignorant decisions every day and are grossly ignorant of their ignorance......... and their is nothing anyone can do about it!




The NBA is currently holding its conference finals. LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers are playing the Orlando Magic. The Cavs have had their best year in franchise history, LeBron was MVP, but more disturbing was the Mike Brown received Coach of the Year honors, and GM Danny Ferry received Executive of the year honors. Both are incompetent just as the people who voted on these awards.

LeBron deserved MVP. Kobe Bryant and Dwayne Wade are excellent players but take LeBron James off of the Cavaliers and they couldn't win 25 games! The Lakers would still make the playoffs, and the heat would still not be very good. Lebron is the difference in being a cellar dweller and a championship contender!

Ferry isn't a good GM at all. This team is not very good! Furthermore, they are not assembled in a way that maximizes LeBron's spectacular talents. On top of that, he hired and has retained Mike Brown as coach. The only thing Mike Brown knows is that he coaches the best player in the world and he needs to keep him happy and give him the ball as much as he wants it, which to his credit he does!

The playoffs and probably the finals is where his inadequacies will catch up to the team and LeBron's ability to overcome the other team and his own team's lack of coaching and talent will be tested. Saying that I still think the Cavs will win the Championship this year. However, I will say that I believe they will be better off playing the Lakers than the Nuggets, as George Karl would severly out coach Mike Brown.

In short, whatever success Clevland has is because of one person and one person only! Lebron James! He is the most athletic person his size in history! And he will likely leave the NBA as it's greatest player ever assuming he stays healthy and keeps the seemingly level head he has thus far through his career! He's fun to watch and I wish him the best of a long and record breaking career.



Congress is attempting (it may have passed as of this writing) to give GM another $12 Billion dollars. How can they think it will help? None of this stimulus has worked as suggested thus far. The definition of idiocy is doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results. At this point if Congress did a rain dance on the steps of the capital I would applaud them because at least they were earnestly trying and it doesn't cost Billions! Furthermore, if the rain dance didn't work we would be no worse for wear!



I don't think that our politicians nor our news media is paying enough attention to, nor appreciates the great threat to our safety that North Korea and Iran are becoming.





Lane Kiffin....... heh heh...... I stated in another blog post below how inept this guy was..... on the micro blogging site Twitter he tweeted that he was excited about a recruit. He promptly blamed a subordinate.

Lane, if your name is on the account, and it's not an imposter what ever is said is your responsibility! Grow up and accept that responsibility! If you didn't approve what was Tweeted then it's your fault that you didn't. If you did it and are not telling the truth, then you are both incompetent and a liar. College coaches cannot under any circumstances discuss recruits publicly! You have proven to be incompetent when it comes to understanding NCAA rules and you have not coached your first game. The NCAA should step in this time and have UT forfeit all non-conference wins this year! An even better penalty would be forcing UT to play on the road at every other Tennessee College or University. One school per year for however long it takes to visit them all Div. I-III and NAIA. It would give boosts to all of those programs as well as allowing Tennessee fans who cannot normally make it to UT games to strain their voices singing Rocky Top!

However, it's not really your fault Lane! As if you would take the responsibility anyway..... it's the fault of the athletic administration of the University of Tennessee! What hallucinogen they were taking when they hired you would fascinate Cheech and Chong!


Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House..... Please change your story one more time. Preferably to one that is remotely believable!


Scott Peterson is on trial for killing another wife. Why do they keep picking on this guy? I mean every time he gets married and his wife is murdered. Hey some people just have bad luck!


Modern Day Cinema is in a state of disarray. The only good movies are remakes of one's made 25+ years ago or they are based off of books, comic books, or stories that because of their fantasy nature simply were not makeable 20 years ago, but are today because of special effects, especially CGI, possible.

However, no modern day movies have compelling stories driven by dialouge! Watching a movie like Casablanca is a stark contrast to a movie made within the last decade. And not because Casablanca was in black and white! You could be blind and hear Casablanca and not miss much. With Wolverine you wouldn't have any idea about what was going on other than there was a bunch of fighting.


That's all for now!

The Madness of March

One of my favorite times of year if wrapping up. March Madness which starts with the conference basketball tournaments and extends through the NCAA and NIT tournaments offers some of the best entertainment and stories for the money of any sporting event. This year's tournament has as usual been no exception.

However, I must say that I disagree with SEC Commissioner Mark Slive and the Selection Committee by not including more teams from the non major, or non-BCS, conferences. This is unfair and politics at it's worst.

The argument goes like this: Schools like Creighton, St. Mary's, etc. who have excellent teams, but play in conferences that are not as good overall as the ACC, Big East, Big 12, SEC, Big Ten, or the Pac Ten, need to have tougher non-conference schedules in order to increase their strength of schedule and RPI which play into the tourney selection committee's decisions.

The reality is that for mid-major schools, who do not have the budget of the schools in BCS conferences cannot afford to simply schedule who they want to play. Furthermore, a school like Syracuse knows that it's suicide to go play at Creighton before Christmas. Syracuse has a long and tough Big East Conference schedule awaiting them upon their return from the Christmas break. Regardless of how good they are, at that point in the season, Creighton has a good chance of beating them, or any other team from a power conference on their home floor. Jim Boheim is smarter than that. Hence until conference play starts he rarely plays outside the state of New York before January. He knows that the key for a school like Syracuse to go to the tournament EVERY year is to schedule 10-12 virtually guaranteed wins at home before the conference schedule starts. This is done by paying schools more money than they can turn down to travel to Syracuse and play on Syracuse's home court. These are typically lower level DI schools and mid majors. This ensures Syracuse 10-12 wins before conference play, in order to go to the NCAA Tournament, they simply then have to go about .500 in the Big East. They do this by winning all or most of their home games and trying to merely steal 1 or 2 games on the road. At the end of the season they have 25 wins, a high RPI, perhaps an upset against a number 1 such as UCONN as they did this year, and they are without question a tourney team.

A Creighton type team on the other hand has played half of their non-conference games on the road, sometimes at schools who are tournament quality teams, and then turn around and play in very underestimated conferences in which they have to win outright in order to go to the tournament. UNC, Duke, UCLA, Kentucky, Villanova, UCONN, Michigan St. and other schools from those prgrams don't schedule teams like Creighton in fear of losing a game that could significantly hurt their RPI. It's easier to schedule games they are all but guaranteed to win. And Creighton simply cannot afford to buy a game from UNC, UCLA, Duke, Louisville, etc. who have virtually unlimited budgets to come play them.

Yet, the committee suggest that scheduling is Creighton's problem. Shame on you Mike Slive and the rest of the Tournament Committee! I know your job is tough. But the best tournament in recent memory, and one that will be talked about forever was a few years ago when George Mason made it's amazing march to the Final Four by knocking out Goliath after Goliath with big plays and buzzer beaters. It won't happen every year, but it's watching small schools and those communities behind them that make the NCAA tournament one of if not the greatest sporting event on earth, and 100 times better and more exciting than the NCAA's coveted "Bowl Championship Series!"

Give the mid majors who have had great seasons the benefit of the doubt! Also, give the teams that will go and play those mid majors from the power conferences extra consideration as well. We don't want the Tournament to become a joke like the BCS is!

I would like to also give a big round of applause to the Athletic Director and fans of North Carolina State University! You are the biggest idiots in collegiate basketball and I wish nothing but mediocrity for you for the next 25 years!

Herb Sendek took over the N.C. State basketball program 12 years ago. He propmptly lost 2 years in a row in the NIT to the venerable Pete Carril and his Princeton Tigers. Sendek took stock of himself and his program and changed the way he approached coaching. For the next 8 years Sendek was constantly in the hunt for the ACC regular season Championship & went to 5 consecutive NCAA Tournaments tying the record set by the wildly popular Jim Valvano. He was also named coach of the year in a conference with coaches who had won a half dozen national championships among them.

This was not good enough for N.C. State fans however who are not aware of the fact that they are not Duke and they are not UNC, BUT that Sendek had N.C. State competing with those teams annually. The fans voiced their opinion, and N.C. State athletic director Lee Fowler allowed them to run him out of town to Arizona State because he either felt the same way or didn't have the back bone to stand up to them.

Regardless, Sendek has turned the program at Arizona State around by finishing 4th in the Pac Ten, making it to the conference tournament finals and making yet another trip to the NCAA tournament. N.C.State meanwhile sat at home as they were ACC cellar dwellers for the last 2 years. Good job!

For any A.D.'s wanting to make a really smart move for their school, Sendek is one of the very best coaches in the country! And you won't learn that from Jay Bilas or Dick Vitale!

Oh yeah, Mitch Barnhart the athletic director at Kentucky who fired Tubby Smith just a few days ago fired the guy HE hired to replace him, Bill Gillespie. Why isn't Barnhart held accountable as Gillespie has been? He made the bad hire!

Tubby Smith has resurrected a Minnesota program and took them back to the NCAA tournament and is being mentioned for the job in Arizona. Nice job Barnhart. You and Gillespie should have to share moving expenses!

Congratulations to Tyler Hansborough. He is the ACC's all-time leading scorer and is making his second trip to the Final Four. Tyler has played all 4 years at UNC and is one of the toughest competitors I have ever seen. I know because I was a tough competitor and I don't see many that impress me, and he does. A kid like Hansborough is what makes NCAA sports the best there is. Here's wishing him the best this week. And any NBA GM thinking this guy can't help you win, you're an idiot! He's not a 20-10 guy for the next 12 years, but he will be an asset for someone.

Congratulations to Coach Scott Drew and his Baylor Bears for making the NIT final four in Madison Square Garden. Drew took over a program coming off of massive NCAA violations and the murder of one of it's players. Drew who came to Baylor from Valparaiso has made consistent improvements ever since arriving in Waco. His brother Bryce made one of the most memorable shots in NCAA tourney history over 10 years ago against Ole Miss, look for Scott Drew's team (wherever he may be coaching) in future NCAA tournaments.

Eagles management & misplaced priorities......

ESPN has reported (here) the Philadelphia Eagles fired Dan Leone today. You may not know Dan Leone, he wasn't a linebacker, wide receiver, or coach. Dan was a part time Stadium Operations employee who has been fired by the organization. The reason for which he was fired is somewhat bizarre, raises questions about the organization, and creates a slippery slope for employees with any degree of online visibility or personality.

Mr. Leone was unhappy that the Eagles did not sign Brian Dawkins, who signed a free agent contract with the Denver Broncos. On his personal Facebook page, as a status update, Mr. Leone posted: "Dan is [expletive] devastated about Dawkins signing with Denver ... Dam Eagles R Retarted!!"[sic]

For that post, Mr. Leone was terminated via a phone call early this morning. This raises an slew of questions concerning freedom of speech, professionalism, hypocrisy, and perhaps could set precedence of how companies deal with online visibility in the new virtual world in which we live in.

1) My biggest question is perhaps the most insignificant, but one that which boggles me..... How did the Eagles front office know what Mr. Leone posted on Facebook? Do they have someone assigned to Internet surfing to find out what all of their employees may be saying in online forums, on Facebook, on Myspace, on Twitter, or in their personal blogs? Or did the Eagles have an employee who wasn't even supposed to be surfing Facebook find it and tattle to front office management that Mr. Leone called them "retards"? On a sports discussion forum, Mr. Leone could have signed up anonymously and raked the Eagles through the mud with them never being able to find out, with no repercussions to himself.

2) When Terrell Owens played for the Eagles he regularly did and said things on the side lines and in press conferences, that while perhaps not as permanent as a Facebook post, certainly indicated that he thought coaches, teammates and front office management were viewed in his eyes as "mentally incapable." T.O. wasn't fired, immediately. Nor do other professional sports teams fire employees (who happen to play on the field or court) for voicing disagreements with management. Therefore, to fire an employee over such a Facebook comment is actually unprecedented, and could possibly set forth a landmark decision if it were to go to court with regards to grounds upon which a sports team can fire an employee.

3) I cannot discount the fact that Mr. Leone's comments were inappropriate and as he has admitted he should not have posted them. However, it was a personal web page, and he was voicing his personal opinion. How many employees have voiced similar disagreements with company management over new policies, procedures, etc. standing around the water cooler or too each other over lunch? Do American companies now rule with a Marxist Iron fist in that whether you like something or not you had better like it?

4) Assuming the Eagles feel the post was defaming, a stretch at best, how much discontent could a part time Stadium Operations Chief cause? Would everyone at gate 4 suddenly feel that Dawkins should have been signed? The repercussions must have been horrific to the Eagles front office.

5) However appropriate or inappropriate you feel the post on FaceBook was, Mr. Leone was simply being Dan the Fan! He loved the Eagles, he was a Brian Dawkins fan. The Eagles have not been immune to making some bone head personnel moves over the years. Why is a fan, who is still going to be a fan, voicing his disagreement with a personnel move so cataclysmic? The fallout is certainly less than when players do it in the locker room causing discontent, resentment, and strife within a group of players who have to be on the same page on the field. And it is certainly often less when they do it in public!

6) If Mr. Leone takes this to court (I selfishly hope that he does), I don't know that it will hold up as a lawful termination of an employee. The First Amendment right to free speech certainly must be considered. Mr. Leone's comments were on a personal website that is mostly used as a method to stay in contact with close acquaintances. There is certainly a business/professional networking use for Facebook, but less than 20% of it's users use it in that manner. Furthermore, Mr. Leone made no pretensions of making any sort of an official statement for the Eagles, only a handful of people who potentially saw it likely new that Leone also worked for the Eagles, and what's more is, what was the repercussional impact from his statement? That four of his friends agreed with him? Four friends that are likely Eagles fan as well, and will probably save money to pay $150 bucks next year to sit in the cold in December and watch the game through binoculars while drinking a $10 beer that is half foam along with a cold hot dog on stale bread that cost another $8 bucks? All while wearing an $80 McNabb jersey, a $120 Eagles Jacket, and a $30 Eagles hat? Those were the type guys the Eagles front office were afraid Leone may influence? OK!

If any rational thought and prudence had been used in this situation, it should have unfolded as follows"

Front office is informed of Leon's post to Facebook, they question the informant if and if so why they were on Facebook while on the clock working for the Eagles! Upon seeing and disapproving of Leone's comments, call his immediate supervisor in, discuss the matter with him. Bring Leone in, inform him you disapprove, perhaps even suspend him for a game, get his assurance that it will not happen again, discuss the concept of professionalism, shake hands and in that way you wouldn't look like an idiot in the press.

But no! The Eagles had to make yet another poor personnel decision, yet this time it didn't even involve a player!

More coaching insanity.....

The Phoenix Suns fired Terry Porter today after speculation that it was coming all weekend. Porter replaced the embattled Mike D'Antoni who despite not taking the Suns to the finals, did have them perennially competing as one of the best teams in the league and has done wonders in New York! D'Antoni may have won back to back titles had it not been for an injury to Amare Stoudamire during the playoffs one season and questionable suspensions the next during the Western Conference Finals.

However, Steve Kerr the General Manager in Phoenix decided he wasn't getting the job done, so he fired D'Antoni and hired Terry Porter. We'll never know if Porter could get the job done or not. He was head coach for 4 months with a largely revamped roster. As I have stated in my previous blog on this topic, firing a coach mid-season is ALWAYS a mistake!

Now, I will say, that combined with Kerr's personnel moves, I don't think Porter was the answer at head coach in Phoenix. However, despite that, he at least deserves a season to try, we still have half a season to play. The Celtics won 20 games in a row. Shaquille O'Neal is in the best shape he has been in in 5 seasons. Regardless of the possibilities, they could realistically hit a big winning streak and do well in the post-season. Furthermore, what is Kerr doing? How much thought and consideration went into hiring Porter if you had so little confidence in him that you fire him 4 months into the job. If he was that incapable, then Kerr shoulder even more blame for making the hire in the first place.

It is my recommendation to the Sun's that Kerr has until the Finals to right the ship, if it isn't done by then, then he needs to go! With 3 of your 4 best players in their mid thirties, the Sun's only have a 2 year window left, and that's assuming they acquire some younger, better players and stay healthy.


On to stupid college coaches......

Lane Kiffin!!!!! Come on down! You're the next contestant on idiot of the week!

Coach Kiffin is the new coach at Tennessee. Tennessee fans were upset that they had not competed for a national championship in a few years and therefore fired coach Phillip Fulmer who had led them to their last national championship.

In some of his first statements as head coach Kiffin criticized Urban Meyer, head coach of the current national champion Florida Gators, and former Gator and current South Carolina head coach Stever Spurrier. However much you like or dislike Meyer or Spurrier there two things that both have in common: 1) Both are winners, and 2) both run clean programs. Now, after starting a fire no new coach needs, he has committed 3 recruiting violations in a 14 day span. This is a classic case of being young and dumb (Kiffin is 33)!

The NCAA has a massive rule book, and each coach at each school in the country is issued an updated copy every year, and must complete a rules test. No coach has read every word in this book, it is a reference guide. The test is not comprehensive, but if you pass it, you have shown a workable knowledge of the most important infringements possible and it's then your fault if you commit any further infringements. What's more, is every school pays a compliance person, and often an entire staff to be on campus and on call 24/7 for coaches in case they have a question.

As an NCAA head or assistant coach, this person is on your speed dial list, because if you're not 100% positive and can give the reasoning why something falls within the confines of NCAA regulations, you call this person. They can either tell you, or tell you to wait while they check with other compliance directors at other schools, conference and NCAA officials in order to get an official ruling. Therefore, there is rarely an acceptable excuse for blatant rules violations.

Kiffin however has had three in his ridiculously short tenure at UT! He set up a mock press conference for recruits while visiting. Yeah, it's silly, but it's against the rules, and regardless of what it outlaws the NCAA rules are for the most part set up with very concise guidelines so that coaches cannot use a slippery slope to gain unfair advantages in recruiting. The next was using a fog machine and letting recruits run out onto the field, and finally he mentioned a recruits name in an interview and said he was a great player when anyone who has even been around college athletics for more than 10 minutes knows that you cannot talk about specific recruits, and certainly cannot name them.

These were minor infractions, and won't result in any sanctions from the NCAA, but if you're gonna be a cocky know it all coaching at Tennessee you need to have your i's dotted and t's crossed. My prediction is Kiffin might make it 3 years unless he begins to violate more serious NCAA regulations, he obviously has a lack of respect for them.

However, my contention is not with Kiffin... in my opinion he wasn't a good hire, but he's a product of the ass kissing coaches society today prevalent in big time college football. My contention is with Athletics Director Mike Hamilton. If Kiffin does not fulfill expectations, Hamliton and Kiffin should have to pack together as they are ushered out of Knoxville. It was his hire! If it does not work out, HE should be held responsible for it.

UT fans, do not let him feed you some BS excuse. You are UT, one of the best coaching jobs in the country! You can have your pick of all but a handful of competent coaches in the country, Kiffin is who he picked. If Kiffin is not all you think he should be, hold Mike Hamilton responsible. I frankly predict that Kiffin will simply be in over his head, but again, that's the AD's fault!

Hold athletic directors and general managers responsible for teams failures! There are times when they make bad personnel decisions and times when they don't provide coaches the tools they need to win, if they are not going to be held to the same level accountability, then what are they being paid for?

The state of NCAA sports.

College sports are big time business! If you question that, consider yourself uninformed! Colleges are chartering jets around the country, building new and always bigger stadiums, athletic centers, dormitories, student centers etc. with the guise used being that it will benefit, "not only" the student athlete, but the entire student body and community as well. Along with the underlying philosophy from Field of Dreams of "If you build it, they will come."

And people clap and cheer and like a goof ball at a political campaign rally while believing what they're told. The real reason is winning. Everyone wants to win! Winning is fun. Winning begets winning. Winner's are cool. Winner's are what everyone wants to be!

Why?

Because winning is like life and death, it's like being pregnant or not.....

You are either a WINNER! Or you are a loser! There's no in between.

However, besides the fun that is winning, there's something else winning brings.... money! For NCAA teams playoffs, or in the case of football the BCS means money for the school. The bigger the bowl game, the bigger the money; the bigger the money, the bigger the city, the nicer the hotel, the nicer the restaurants, the bigger the payday, for the winner and the loser. Also, the more exposure. Free advertisement for the universities.

Every year, NCAA champions in basketball and football show an increase in enrollment the following fall semester. Everyone likes to be a winner.

But at what cost?

Student athletes all over the country every year are handed useless degrees. Schools all over the country are building facilities they cannot afford or fill with fans. Schools all over the country are not being held accountable for their actions.

What's more, many schools are holding coaches accountable for things in which they have no control over.

A few weeks ago, Dennis Felton was fired as the head coach of the University of Georgia Men's Basketball program. Felton was a very successful coach at the University of Western Kentucky. He took the Hilltoppers to multiple NCAA tournaments by winning regular season and tournament championships in the Sun Belt conference. He was hired at Georgia after Jim Harrick was found to be in violation of numerous NCAA regulations.

Felton had been successful, and had run a clean program. However, he faced a steep uphill battle at a school with very little previous basketball success, even during the days of it's best player, Dominique Wilkins. But despite scholarship restrictions, Felton began the arduous task of rebuilding the program. Having coached against Felton, I could think of few better choices.

Facedwith limited scholarships, old facilities that were not very appealing to new recruits, and a perennially tough SEC conference schedule, Felton made strides. Putting in an entirely new system, playing sometimes no more than 7 players, and last season winning 4 games in 3 days (not a typo they played twice one day) to win the SEC tournament championship advancing to the NCAA tournament.

It appeared as Felton had the program headed the right way. What's more, it looked as if the University was finally making a commitment to the program buy building a new $30 Million dollar practice facility. However, beginning this season Felton had 6 freshmen and 3 more sophomores. That is incredibly young. On top of that, they only had a single 4th year senior. Now, some will argue that because of players leaving for the NBA, the NCAA is younger, and players like Derrick Rose have taken teams to the NCAA Final Four as freshmen.

Well, Georgia doesn't have any recruits like Derrick Rose, the stellar guard from Memphis last season. One reason they don't is they don't have the basketball history or facilities that Memphis does. However, what some of the experts won't realize is that despite the young and gifted Rose, Memphis had a veteran ball club that provided them the necessary leadership to get to the Final Four. When a team has 9 first and second year players, that indicates a lack of leadership unless they have a very good upper class, which Georgia does not. The reason they don't can be traced back to the Harrick caused NCAA sanctions.

Because of their youth, Georgia was struggling this year. At 9-11 and 0-5 in the SEC, Georgia athletic administration decided to terminate Dennis Felton mid season. That was a terrible mistake that was based more on the emotions of a small, but financially generous fan base, and not on someone knowledgeable about the collegiate sport environment. Coach Felton was not given the opportunity to make this team better over the course of the season and defend his SEC tournament championship. Last year, they got better over the course of the year, and ended up being winners. They were not given the chance this year, and that makes no sense.

Firing an NCAA coach in the middle of the season is indefensible unless the coach is found guilty of breaking NCAA rules of a serious nature or he is guilty of behavior unbecoming to the University. Otherwise terminating a coach before the end of the season only serves to hurt the program and more importantly the players. One of the assistants obviously has to take over. An assistant who's input and ideas was used in the program that was deemed not adequate by the administration. Therefore, when the Athletic Director states that they are moving the program in the right direction, be clear that that is a nonsensical stereotypical catchphrase they are using because they are not articulate enough to explain or defend their decision, which again is really made by a handful of financially influential boosters.

Firing Felton before he had a chance to significantly improve the program was a terrible mistake, firing him or any other coach mid-season is inexcusable! Mike Gottfried Of the University of Alabama was fired a few weeks ago as well. He had been at Alabama 11 years, and frankly, the program was not improving. I don't have a problem with Alabama's decision to fire him as, but again, doing it mid-season does not accomplish any significant objective that will improve the program.

Despite the timing of the termination however, a greater number of schools are making coaching changes with very little in the way of prudent decision making. Athletic directors, who are rarely held accountable are making decisions that coaches cannot control, and often disagree with, put the specific programs into difficult situations with regards to being consistently competitive.

The University of Southern Mississippi fired Jeff Bower after last season. Bower had been the most successful coach at a single school, over the same period of time, for longer than any football coach in the NCAA other than Joe Pa and Bobby Bowden. Yet despite poor facilities, low budget, and a non-BCS conference, Bower was apparently suppose to compete annually for a BCS bowl. The ignorance of fans and administration combined with expectations based on that ignorance has gotten out of hand. It's more out of hand than the spending. In fact, it's partially driving the spending.

I predict that in collegiate football, after Joe Pa, and Bobby Bowden retire (or die as the case may be) there will be major reform in the NCAA before we see another coach at a school for 20+ years. In basketball it's not much better, coaches are no longer expected to build a winning program that graduates players and is competitive. They are required to get to post season play every season. And the NIT is only acceptable between NCAA trips. Billy Donovan may be at Florida for the rest of his career, Coach K, Gary Williams, and Roy Williams will be at their respective schools until they retire. Jim Calhoun and of course the venerable Jim Boheim of UCONN and Syracuse out of the Big East, possibly John Thompson III at Georgetown will finish their careers at their current schools. Then you have a handful of lower level division I programs that because they can't afford better coaches, are not committed to the basketball program, or perhaps the AD and coach are close friends have a few coaches that aren't in danger of losing jobs. Those are becoming fewer and fewer every year though. However, for the other 300 Div. I schools in the country, unrealistic expectations and a lack of proper commitment to the program will cause a lot of coaches to have 3-6 year jobs, again until there is reform in the NCAA.

Fans watch the NCAA Basketball Tournament every year and cheer for the yearly Cinderella. It's one of the greatest things annually in sport. We can always count on a Cinderella! And they start wondering why their team can't be one. Well, perhaps they can, but understand, many of those schools are Cinderella after that coach has done a great job at that school for 4-8 years! And that's the best they can be, is a Cinderella. However, after two years of rebuilding from a typically senior laden team that was the Cinderella and not becoming a perennial NCAA team (turning the corner is the catch phrasing often used) over the next two years, that successful coach will typically find himself looking for a job within 2-3 years.

Unreasonable expectations based upon ignorance of reality.

That's the state of the NCAA today, driven by money, and fueled by people in power who have never been on a sideline. Without NCAA reform this trend will continue, student athletes will be the victims, rivalries will fail, and the quality of the product, in football and basketball will continue to deteriorate to the point not being worth the money that revolves around it.