sunday wrapup: ALL BULL?

…‘Roids in BaseBall, Nets Resurgence, and Knicks Reality

by Guichard Cadet

Why every time a star baseball player admits to using steroids, the powers that be say it is not true? The answer is quite simple: the confessor always implicates other star players. Sometime he names names; other times, he just throws out a percentage… 35%; 50%.

Jose Canseco is implicating everyone, assorted players, homerun record owners, and a laundry list of former league MVPs. No one is safe, whether you are white, black or latino; manager or owner – Jose says you are all part of the same racket.

If so, then why blow the whistle, Jose? This is the house we built. To discredit him, people point at his arrest record; his greed, need for money; and sour grapes he will not be a Hall of Famer.

Baseball is lucky to have Jose Canseco. He is a metaphor for why playing baseball is often considered passé. The game does not have a level playing field; it never had, not even after black players joined the ranks.

Baseball historians hold numbers dear, bypassing the fact each stadium has different dimensions; and the changes made to the ball at various points in the game’s history.

Canseco used steroids to alter his physical limitations, much the same way stadium walls are adjusted to benefit a team.

Whether or not there is a question mark next to his claims, baseball has a new asterisk next to its most glorified record and names.

This is reason enough to further tighten its drug-testing policy.

…

Friday night, the New Jersey Nets were done in by the farce that sometimes passes for NBA refereeing. Vince Carter had 43 points, and got tossed when he got a second technical. The blown whistle came as a result of his charging toward Bruce Bowen. The first whistle came because the two had exchanged head butts earlier in the game.

Entering the final quarter, the Nets were leading the San Antonio Spurs by 14 points. They ended up losing by 10 points.

Kenyon Martin came back tonight. Though wearing the opponent’s uniform, New Jersey fans gave him a hearty welcome, demonstrating how much admiration they had for Kenyon.

Since hiring George Karl, the Denver Nuggets have had their own brand of resurgence, with 5 wins in 7 games. Realizing the Nuggets clearly are not built for the half-court game, Karl has made a major adjustment. Point guard Andre Miller starts at the 2-spot; and Earl Boykins is the starting point guard.

Whether this move comes only as a result of the opening day injury Voshon Lenard suffered, it definitely quickens the Nuggets’ offensive pace at the start of games.

With Nuggets’s center Marcus Camby injured, the Nets strengths top the Nuggets in every position, except Kenyon’s – the power forward position.

After an offensive-minded first quarter for both teams, the Nets tweaked their defense. The focus changed from stopping your opponent, to making the Nuggets use up the full 24-second shot clock.

The Nets led from the end of the second quarter, and barely slowed their roll; at times, leading by as many as 24 points.

With just 2 more games before the All-Star break, all question marks might be removed from the Nets resurgence.

…

At the start of this year’s season, MSG television introduced a new show to the lineup: All Ball. The thirty-minute show featured one Knick player, and tried to give fans a more realistic, in-depth view of the player. At best, the program was a half-baked attempt, much like team’s play this season.

Growing up, in the playgrounds, when someone said they got All Ball, it meant a blocked shot, with no contact, no foul. In essence, you had made a clean play.

Friday night, the spin from the voices at MSG detailed that the upcoming four games were not only winnable, but necessary. What did the team do?

The Knicks came out flat against the division-leading Boston Celtics, trailing by double-digits within minutes. After a timeout, as if the script was straight out of wrestling’s playbook, they got energized and played a decent first half.

It is easy to focus on their fourth quarter collapses, but with the Knicks, the third quarter continues to be another bumpy area. What do they do during intermission that leaves them looking unmotivated and unprepared for the game’s second half?

They scored only 11 points in the third quarter. Down by 22 to start the fourth, they managed to lose by only 17 points, while making Boston look like an Eastern Conference version of the Phoenix Suns.

Tonight’s win versus the expansion, Charlotte Bobcats, was hard to celebrate, except the momentary joy / relief for Tim Thomas’ buzzer-beating, game-winning three-pointer.

The Bobcats were playing without rookie sensation Emeka Okafor, and had lost 6 consecutive games. Yet, the Knicks could not close them out, after leading by double-digits, on various occasions.

After hitting three consecutive three-pointers, with less than 3 minutes to play, the Bobcats readied to close the Knicks out or at least take the game to overtime.

The Knicks got a lucky bounce from the rim. Instead of an exclamation point, the Knicks earned a question mark after ALL BULL!