Sometimes, you just have to link

Sports Media review explains why Sports on My Minds' blog on Jason Whitlock is so exemplary. (It has to do with holding sports mediamouths accountable for their inconsistencies & lunacy.) But the entry in itself represents something major : a full-blown attack on the racism of an African-American journalist : complimented by a lengthy "comment" added by one of dwil's readers on the topic of white fear. The blog & that comment are must reads.

peace love gap
Johnny Hatchett

The NBA in Vegas?

Forget all the issues of gambling & sin, forget "What happens here stays here," the reason that the NBA shouldn't be in Vegas is because that city is the anti-thesis of professional basketball. The excitement of the N.B.A. comes from (1) player personalities & idiosyncrasies (see: Arenas, Gilbert) & (2) player spontaneity & creativity. Vegas offers neither. Everything is lit-up, pre-fabricated choreography. Turns out that the NBA is living that up : having a poorly-programmed, broke-down cyborg mouth a mash-up of Vegas classics during introductions & having scantily-clad, but static & bored women appear. No doubt the players felt it : their body language expressed indifference & suppressed personality. &, lest you think players just don't care about introductions...see the 2006 All-Star dance-off or the 2005 All-Star introductions.

&, as Mark Stein points out, the absense of some of the guys who create the in-game spontaneity - Kidd, Nash, & A.I. - might hurt the game itself.

Call me old-fashioned, but I hope this is the last we hear about the league in Vegas.

peace love gap
Johnny Hatchett