The Republic of Sport

willwillis.us

willwillis.us's Comments

Posted Friday November 07, 2008, About: Knicks: Marbury can't practice at high school

I completely understand why the Knicks won't let him go practice with the high school team, it's an injury risk. However, the obvious point is that they also don't have any plans for him to play for the Knicks, and there is zero chance of trading him.

I don't feel sorry for Marbury because he brought this all on himself, the cumulation of how he has carried himself throughout his career, and even while he in sitting in purgatory he is still getting his paycheck. He's being paid not to do anything, but he's getting paid. It's the team's prerogative, no matter how stupid it is. About the only argument Marbury could really make is that sitting and rotting on the bench will make it difficult for him to get another contract after this current one expires. But he's not any different than a lot of other players in that regard.

Posted Tuesday November 04, 2008, About: Why LeBron might pick Mavs

igo - one thing Texas does NOT have that most states do have is a state income tax. That has to be taken into consideration when comparing salaries. According to this, New York has a 7.7% state income tax on incomes over $500K - http://swz.salary.com/salarywizard/layouthtmls/swzl_statetaxrate_NY.html. So if Lebron was making $20mil/year (just throwing out a number), he'll pay $1.54mil/year in state taxes in NY that he wouldn't have to pay in TX.

In the end though, it is his best interest to say he is interested in all of the high profile teams that have owners willing to spend foolishly, because it creates a bidding war and drives up the price (even if privately he is already decided).

Posted Monday September 29, 2008, About: Mavericks still blaming Avery?

Avery may have had his shortcomings (no pun intended) when it came to creativity on the offensive side of the court, but just blaming him for all the Mavs failings is ridiculous. Avery didn't let Nash walk based on salary and then turn around and give even more money to the albatross known as Dampier - a supposed franchise center that starts almost every game with two fouls and shies away from the ball on the offensive end. Avery didn't sign a shooting guard who can't distribute and has too many mental lapses in crunch time to be the team's point guard (Terry). Avery wasn't speaking for Dirk every time Dirk threw one or more teammates under the bus in the media and blamed everyone but himself. Avery wasn't inviting teammates to his own birthday party after a playoff loss or drag racing on city streets or going on the radio talking about smoking pot and becoming a distraction during a playoff run. And is it Avery's fault that the only player on the roster you feel like wants the ball in crunch time and you have confidence he'll deliver isn't even a starter (Stackhouse)? Avery *did* do a lousy job of developing Devin Harris, but he didn't make the stupid trade for over-the-hill Jason Kidd.

The fact is, Avery got as much out of the Dallas roster the last few years as anyone could have. They had a strong defense, but their offense has been based on the notion that it will be a rare night when none of their shooters are hitting from the outside. They haven't had any sort of inside game to fall back on when the jump shots aren't falling, and Stackhouse has been the only player who would consistently drive to the basket and get to the line (though to be fair, Dirk has gotten much better at that in the last couple of years). Harris drove a lot, but his inability to consistently make layups made that as much of a liability as a benefit to the offense. You can say that a more motion oriented offense would have solved a lot of these problems, but I'm skeptical that their personnel can pull it off. I guess we'll see this year.

Posted Wednesday September 24, 2008, About: Rangers won't fire Washington

Ryan has said the obvious publicly, that the organization has been abysmal in developing pitching, and that it is his emphasis. Of course it doesn't happen overnight, but I'm optimistic that for the first time in several years the team appears to at least be moving in the right direction.

Posted Wednesday July 09, 2008, About: Racist letter threatened Auerbach

grrr ... accidental submit ... How could anyone ask for anything more than to be given an equal opportunity based entirely on merit? That's the way it should be, unfortunately it isn't always the case.

Posted Wednesday July 09, 2008, About: Racist letter threatened Auerbach

throwdowner - that's what makes Red so respectable - he saw past race in a time when it wasn't popular to do so (and could have severe negative repercussions) and did what was right. No doubt about it, what Red did was *not* affirmative action. He wasn't trying to make social statement. He brought in the best *people* for the jobs, and enjoyed tremendous success because of it. How could anyone ask for anything more than to be given an eq

Posted Wednesday July 09, 2008, About: Racist letter threatened Auerbach

Hitman - uhhh, "white people" are already a minority in the world :-) 1/4 of the world's population alone is Chinese, not even talking about the general populations of Asia, Africa, and South America.

The thing that most people also don't seem to understand is that scientists, whether creationist or humanist/secularist, have pretty well determined that all human life traces back to a common beginning. So whether you believe in "Adam and Eve" or random chance evolution, bottom line is all humans are related and have a common ancestry - regardles of skin color.

Posted Wednesday June 18, 2008, About: Cuban rips NBA Olympians

I just have to wince when this billionaire attempts to speak for me.

jackmanrob | 06/18/08, 07:59 AM

Well said, and nice pic.
evolv | 06/18/08, 08:03 AM
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Well, that's no different than politics is it? Other than it being millionaires speaking for us I guess. Off topic I suppose, but that's something I find amusing and frustrating about presidential and congressional political campaigns - a bunch of millionaires claiming to represent the "common person," and a bunch of suckers (the voters) buying what they're selling.

Posted Wednesday June 18, 2008, About: Cuban rips NBA Olympians

I agree with evolv ... write it into contract that they can't play for their country. Then let's see how many people think you're the greatest owner in sports.
Cheesy Texan | 06/18/08, 08:20 AM
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Unfortunately that's not how professional sports contracts work. Basic conditions for contract termination (like engaging in "dangerous" off-court activities such as riding a motorcycle) are collectively bargained. Teams can't arbitrarily add whatever other terms they want on a whim. Even if they could, unless all teams colluded on it (illegal), it would put Cuban and the Mavs at a disadvantage in signing top players who did want to play in the Olympics.

Also, a point that is being missed here - if a player gets hurt in the Olympics, it isn't going to cost Cuban or any other owner much money in terms of "paying their salary." Contracts are covered by insurance for serious injuries, so the money wouldn't be coming out of Cuban's pocket. Where teams do get hurt is on the court (only the best players are going to the Olympics), which in turn leads to financial loss if the team doesn't win as much and attendance and merchandise sales and so on drops off.

Posted Wednesday June 18, 2008, About: Cuban rips NBA Olympians

This guy pure and simple is a nerd who doesnt know the ins and outs of the game, but tries to compensate for nerdiness by buying a decent team. The fact that ultimately he is still a nerd with no real knowledge of the game is what prevents him from getting over the hump in this league.
biminator | 06/18/08, 08:11 AM
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Uhhh ... are you seriously suggesting that Cuban bought "a decent team?" The Mavericks were competing with the Clippers for the title of "Biggest Joke of a Franchise in the NBA" when Cuban bought them. Like him or not, Cuban transformed and revitalized that franchise.

Also, Cuban is a self-made billionaire. He didn't get his money through inheritance or otherwise being given it.

I'm not at all a Cuban apologist, despite what this post may seem to suggest. I think he does a lot right, but he also does a lot wrong. He does have a very good point about the hypocrisy of the Olympics, but at the same time it does come across as rather self-serving. I haven't heard him railing on the similar World Baseball Classic - perhaps because he doesn't have a vested financial interest in it.

Posted Monday May 19, 2008, About: Ump admits blown homer call

I agree with "me dum dum," the unpainted section of pole was a significant contributing factor to the blown call. If you consider the vantage point of the two umpires involved - straddling the 3rd base line anywhere from 200-320 feet away - the ball slicing towards foul territory would have been very tough to call in relation to the black section of foul poul at the top of the wall.

Joe Morgan dismissed the idea, and traditionalists knock it, but even though I'm an old school baseball fan I'm very much in favor of limited instant replay for situations like this. You could have instant replay for determing fair vs. foul and for plays at the plate (I'd limit that to the 7th inning on), and give each manager one challenge. That would solve most officiating problems without being too intrusive on the flow of the game.

Posted Tuesday April 29, 2008, About: Dallas talk radio angers Gordon

It's just how The Ticket (www.theticket.com) operates. The station format is pretty much just "guy talk," not really sports anymore and definitely not anything that could be construed as "journalism." All of their shows have a variation on the "yuck monkey" character, whose job it is to do stupid stuff like this to unsuspecting people. As bad as the local ESPN Radion affiliate is here, it's much easier on the ears than The Ticket these days.

Posted Thursday April 17, 2008, About: Ocho-Cinco turns on Carson

With guaranteed contracts I would support the "you signed the contract" argument, but that argument doesn't work with NFL players. Reason being is that teams don't have to honor the contract either. It is standard practice for teams to back load a contract knowing at the time the player signs it they'll never pay them that money - they'll cut him or force him to "restructure" his contract. Either way the contract money won't be there. So I don't begrudge NFL players one bit for trying to get what they can while they can.

I'm not an "Ocho Cinco" fan at all, and I think there are better ways he could handle this than going scorched earth on the Bengals. But I think the "you signed the contract stupid" arguments are naive at best.

Posted Monday April 14, 2008, About: Yankees remove hexed Sox jersey

Think about it for a minute. Whether or not the whole thing is silly, they still had to spend time and money demolishing a section of concrete to excavate the jersey, and then will in turn have to go back and fix that area. There is a very real physical cost associated with the materials, labor, equipment wear and tear/maintenance, and the time lost in having to build a section, destroy it, then rebuild it. While I think bothering to dig out the jersey was a waste, the Yankees would be justified in doing so and then going after the guy who planted the jersey to recoup the expenses.

Posted Friday March 28, 2008, About: NFLPA will fight long hair rule

It's not a "cultural" thing in the vast majority of cases (Troy P. in Pittsburg is an exception for sure). Long hair on black players is just the current trend. No matter what skin color people have, in general people follow trends. It's how you can look at old pictures and know from the clothing and hair styles what decade they were taken in.

I don't think the NFL is being particularly racist as much as they're just trying to maintain uniformity - the same way they have excessive rules for other things related to player and coaching staff uniforms and appearances. They have a different philosophy than say MLB, where players often have very personalized ways of wearing their "uniform."

I'm smack in the middle of the NFL's target demographic (mid-30s white male with disposable income), and I really could not care less whether a player has long hair or tattoos or whatever. The NFL certainly has the right to impose a hair length rule as part of their uniform rules, whether they choose to sugarcoat the reasoning behind it or not. Just like how the Yankees and Reds historically have banned facial hair and long hair.

Common sense *should* prevail, but it rarely does because most people can't look beyond their own individual situations to the bigger picture. There is a compromise to be reached somewhere if the two sides would work together rather than drawing lines in the sand and refusing to budge.

Posted Thursday March 13, 2008, About: Details of Taylor's robbery