Marbury motive

The Clarion Content saw an interesting note in a Los Angeles Times article discussing the Knicks buyout of Stephon Marbury and his subsequent move to Boston. Did the Knicks player personnel guru Donnie Walsh have an ulterior motive? The writer suggests an interesting benefit that accrues to the Knicks if they help the Celtics win the championship again, presuming Starbury makes them better. If in the process, the Celts beat the Cavs again, it decreases the chances LeBron stays in Cleveland. And he is not going to New Jersey ni Brooklyn. Bill Simmons suggests in his latest column that the chances are greater that the Nets are moving to Pittsburgh.

Unrealistic Plan

The Clarion Content is wondering just how realistic and bright Yankees manager Joe Girardi's plan is for catcher this season. Is this a case where Girardi has to say the politically popular thing despite knowing the likelihood is otherwise? Girardi was quoted by the New York Times the other day claiming that thirty-seven going on thirty-eight year old, Yankee stalwart Jorge Posada will catch 110 games this year. Really? According to the same NY Times article only five catchers in the last forty years Posada's age and older have caught 110 games in a season, "Brad Ausmus, Bob Boone, Carlton Fisk, Benito Santiago and Ernie Whitt."

Is Girardi compelled to say this because Posada is the highest paid catcher in baseball at $13.1 million this year? Clearly, it is bad news for the Yankees roster because they already have too many candidates for DH, as usual. Worse, hampered by a torn labrum in his shoulder Posada had an awful defensive year last year.

Status report

How's this for a status report on how things are going for Bank of America?

At one point the Yankees and the Charlotte based product of many's a bank merger had been discussing naming rights for the front gate of the new Yankee Stadium. Now things have gone so far down hill for the bank that a Yankees spokesman was quoted in USA Today, saying not only was that deal off the table but at most Bank of America may provide the cash machines inside the stadium. Things are not all bad for the Yankees revenue stream. The team, according to USA Today was still able to sell, "an Audi Yankees Club, Budweiser Hall of Fame Lounge, Delta Sky 360 Suite, H&R Block Suite Level, Jim Beam Suite Lounge, Ketel One Lounge and Mohegan Sun Sports Bar."

Doesn't get it

On one level the Clarion Content can barely stand the thought of commenting about A-Rod because every thought of the eerie superstar reminds us that the Yankees are tethered to him for nine more years!

On the other hand, sometimes the guy is so clueless that we can't bare to ignore it. He is a sociological phenomenon. It is conceivable that there is more grist for the mill to compare A-Rod's career and Brittney's career than there is A-Rod and other baseball players. He was a superstar at a very early age. That is not an excuse, but an observation. There is a certain irony in Madonna's attempted mentoring of both of them. From afar, it would appear she has much more successfully navigated the treacherous waters of fame than either of her protegees..

Anyway, A-Rod must not have absorbed all of the lessons yet, because this week past, in the brilliant glare of the steroid revelations that are washing over him, Alex had his cousin of the injections, Yuri Sucart, pick him up at the Yankees spring training opener in Dunedin. Brilliant.

Off the Charts

Yesterday in the Clarion Content Pop Culture section we blogged on a genius who called 911 on the cops who were arresting him for public intoxication in Tampa International Airport. He thought he'd show them. We thought that kind of creative brilliance would be tough to top. But, he has been challenged by Washington State University quarterback, Marshall Lobbestael.

The nineteen year old Lobbestael was discovered passed out in the cab of his pick-up truck in the parking lot of the local police station. He was charged with minor in possession of alcohol. He has been suspended from the football team. Isn't Washington State University the final educational institution who gave the world Ryan Leaf?

David Price in Durham

There is some excitement being generated about when or if David Price will next be seen in Durham. Not Congressman David Price, who is in fact Durham's congressperson, representing the 4th district of North Carolina, but rather current Tampa Bay Rays left-handed pitcher, David Price.

The six foot six inch fireballer was lights out in the postseason last year for the American League World Series representative. Price pitched to a 1.83 ERA, with 20 strikeouts in 19.2 major league innings last year. He may be a candidate for rookie of the year, but the Rays are being very careful with their young star who has only thrown 37.2 innings above the Double-A level, lifetime. This means Price might start the season with the Rays Triple-A affiliate, the Durham Bulls. Like many teams, with all the off days early in the season, Tampa has little need for a fifth starter in April and May.

Durhamanians get off your tail-feathers, get out to the ballpark and check this kid out. He looks like the real deal. (Last year at the beginning of the minor league season Durham fans were treated to the Rays all everything 3rd baseman Evan Longoria, as the team started him in the minors for financial reasons.)

Gimpy old man sidelined again

Not current shot, but a typical Greg Oden pose...

The Clarion Content hardly thinks it is too early to start criticizing the Portland Trail Blazers for what will come to be seen as the massive mistake of selecting Greg Oden ahead of Kevin Durant.

Oden, who missed all of last season with injuries, who has already been sidelined once this season, who is averaging an anemic nine points and seven boards per game, is hurt again. He has missed the last three games and it is possible he will be out for several weeks.

Should the Blazers have seen this coming? Heck the guy was slow and gimpy at eighteen! His legs aren't the same length! He looks forty years old. Yeah, they should have seen it coming. Oden, following in the immortal footsteps of Sam Bowie, won't even end up being the second or third best player in his draft class.

Durant on the other hand is averaging twenty-six points and nearly seven rebounds per game. And that is not because he is an unconscionable gunner on a no hope team. Nope. Durant is shooting a solid 48.5% from the field overall and a lights-out 43% plus from three point range this eason. He has scored thirty or more points in twelve of his last sixteen games.

The guys who will surely be better than Oden from his draft class, Jeff Green, taken 5th, and Al Horford, taken 3rd overall.

But also currently outperforming Greg Oden from the 2007 NBA draft...Wilson Chandler, Rudy Fernandez, Al Thorton, and Thaddeus Young, among others. Not so good for the number one overall pick. Oden maybe heading toward Michael Olowokandi territory.

Girardi at again

The Yankees craptastic manager Joe Girardi is at it again. After making waves and generating unnecessary controversy last Spring with his poor communications skills Girardi is attempting to repeat his mistakes.

How does presumed starting Yankees rightfielder Xavier Nady show up at spring training only to find out from the media that his job is up for grabs? Mark Feinsand reports that the first Xavier Nady had heard of what Girardi envisions as the competition for the rightfield job was when the press came to ask his reaction about it. Back-up first baseman, Nick Swisher has suddenly and unexpectedly been thrust into the mix. Smooth Joe, real smooth.

Oh and by the by, it is not like Nady should have been expecting it. Last year he posted career best numbers with a .305 average, 25 homers and 97 RBI in New York and Pittsburgh combined, after coming to the Bronx in mid-season trade. Nady is already having a tough Spring off the field for issues unrelated to baseball.

Spurs insight

The Newark Star Ledger's Dave D'Alessandro had an excellent insight into the success of the San Antonio Spurs. D'Alessandro points out that through 50 games the Spurs have yielded 969 free throws, while the average NBA squad has allowed 1,268. Wait a minute we thought Bowen and the boys were dirty physical players? Maybe they just have a lot of dramatists like Parker and Ginobli who flop. The Big Fundamental, Tim Duncan, probably just gets calls because as Spurs Coach Gregg Popovich told D'Alessandro, tongue firmly in cheek, "We're a bunch of Boy Scouts. We're boring."

The Good and The Bad of the Knicks

The good and the bad of the new Mike D'Antoni Knicks were on display in the week before the All-Star break. The Clarion Content was opposed to the D'Antoni hire, and we are still not convinced he is the right coach. It is against our core NBA beliefs that a seven seconds or less offense can win the NBA title. It is not that defense always wins in the NBA, but who was the last fast breaking NBA champ? The 1987 "Showtime" Lakers?

Coach D'Anonti's crazy offense produces amazing and awful results both. The Knicks gave up 144 points to the Golden State Warriors. They played no defense and they lost to an 18-35 team. It was the most points allowed in the NBA this season, that was supposed to be the awful result. The next night they were playing the lowly Clippers in LA. This was supposed to be the amazing, Nate Robinson blew up for 33 points, 15 assists, 9 boards and 5 steals. Unfortunately, the Knicks again played no defense and lost to a 13-40 Clips franchise, while giving up 128, albeit in OT, to a team that averages 94.6 points per game. Awful. It was the team's sixth straight loss heading into the break. The Knicks have talented pieces but we are unconvinced that D'Antoni's style can ultimately be successful.

We were bemoaning this to a native Durham NBA guru, saying how we don't think D'Antoni helps the Knicks possible recruitment of LeBron. LeBron believes in defense. Our pal came back with, what if the Knicks got Amare Stoudemire this week, before the trading deadline! How would the D'Antoni seven seconds or less offense look flying down the court with LeBron at the three, David Lee as the junkman four, and Amare playing center. He said, "Think LeBron might throw Amare some good passes? Maybe help him score some points? Maybe get him to play defense in a big spot?" The Clarion Content did have to take a deep breath and think about that scenario for a minute.

Late breaking news flash: the Knicks won tonight! They triumphed over the San Antonio Spurs in OT, with Nate Robinson, fresh off of his dunk contest win, having another big night. He is averaging over 25 points per game in his last five contests. David Lee had his 17th consecutive double double.

Think the Suns were a little bit happy to be rid of fired Coach Terry Porter? All they did was beat the Clippers by forty tonight and light up the scoreboard for 140 points.

Dubai

Dubai risked international uproar this week by banning Israeli tennis player Shahar Peer from entering the country to play in the Women's Tennis Association(WTA) event being held there. The WTA was none too pleased. It's president threatened to pull the event from Dubai next year.

The Clarion Content feels Dubai was playing the Islamist card or playing to the "Arab Street." Dubai is an island of wealth and exclusion unparalleled in the Middle East. It has to reaffirm its credentials, whose side it is on, more frequently because of it. There are certainly no women's tennis tournaments being held in Saudi Arabia, Egypt or Iran.

CNN reported that this event is not without precedent in Dubai, last year an Israeli men's doubles team was denied entry to the country/emirate. Dubai dubiously claimed that security precautions were behind Peer's ban. Citing a demonstration held in New Zealand during the last WTA tournament. CNN said, "In January, a small group of about 20 protesters waved placards and shouted anti-Israel slogans outside the main entrance to the ASB Classic tournament in Auckland." Please.

The players came out strongly behind Peer. CNN quoted Venus Williams in the New York Times, "All the players support Shahar. We are all athletes..."

Unfortunate

The Clarion Content has been on the case of Michelle Wie's parents and various other handlers since her debut. They have ridden her like a pack mule or a circus animal. Rather than choosing what was best for her development as a golfer, they have pressured her to become an income generator as fast as possible, regardless of what might be most helpful for her game. As we have detailed numerous times in the past this has left her psychologically vulnerable and unsteady, all show and no substance.

Yesterday, at her home course in Kahuku, Hawaii, Wie folded under the pressure again. Wie led by three shots with eight holes to play. She double-bogeyed the 11th hole, missed a 3 and 1/2 foot birdie putt on 16 and hit into the sand twice on 17 for a bogey. She finished second, three strokes back. Hopefully, she can hold her head high about the good finish, rather than dwell on another collapse in the spotlight.

Angela Stanford won the season opening tournament for her fourth career victory.

Basketball Links

Two wonderful basketball links for you this All-Star weekend.

The first is to a fabulous article by a Clarion Content fave, Michael Lewis the author of the widely acclaimed baseball analysis book called, Moneyball. It popularized a new way of running baseball franchises and ushered a new era of general managers like Theo Epstein, Brian Cashman, Mark Shapiro and Dan O'Dowd. The interesting thing is that Moneyball isn't even Lewis's best book. As we mentioned in linking to a masterful financial article of his a few months back, Michael Lewis's best book is Liar's Poker, about the excess of Wall Street way back in the 80's. This long article from the New York Times is an analysis of why Shane Battier is such an effective basketball player; why do his teams win so frequently. Lewis seeks to understand what is it about Battier's game (statistically) and persona (sociologically) that makes this so.

The other is a link to an annual article by the Clarion Content's favorite NBA writer Bill Simmons. In this annual column Simmons ranks the top forty players in the NBA by trade value. It is a lot of fun. He allows himself plenty of sarcastic asides and cultural references. He also lists the twenty-five worst contracts in the league. This is one of the surest places for Knicks fans to judge our relative improvement. The Knicks have only two of the twenty-five worst contracts in the Association, down from five last year.

*note technically Simmons didn't list Marbury by the Knicks are paying him $21 million not to play this year.

Surprise, surprise, surprise

Lance Armstrong's much hyped plans for an independent drug-testing program have been scrapped. Why here at the Clarion Content, we can barely believe it! Anti-doping expert Don Catlin told The Associated Press that after months of negotiations, both sides, Armstrong's and the drug-testing expert's, realized the program wasn't workable. We hardly find it amazing that an anti-doping expert renown for being clean and straight can't find a way to conduct a drug-testing program with Lance Armstrong.

Because it is not like Lance Armstrong follows that classic pattern of illicit performance enhancement users; achieving for years on one level, like middle of the pack of world class tour cyclists, to then suddenly best in the pack after 1999. Armstrong's Tour de France finishes were middle of an albeit fantastic pack for six, seven, eight years in a row, then suddenly after 1999 spiked to a unparalleled seven straight wins. A medical miracle, or growth hormones, steroids, blood doping, something else, who knows? Lance knows. Too bad he and anti-doping expert Don Catlin couldn't work a testing program out to make sure the rest of Armstrong's career is clean(ish.)

Favre

This time I mean it. Really. Pinkie swear.

It can't be that only the Clarion Content's editorial board had this conversation today. We heard Brett Favre was "retiring" again, breaking Sugar Ray Leonard's all-time world record for the most announcements regarding one's retirement. The bootlickers over at ESPN got all lathered again. Says here that the most overrated quarterback ever is yanking the news media's collective chain one more time.

Sure the interception king doesn't want to participate in offseason workouts. The pretty boy slacker was called out by Jets teammates after the season for his attitude and work ethic, or lack thereof. The problem is Favre thinks the whole year is the Pro Bowl, an exhibition where the world has come to gawk at his talents. He can stand around and give interviews while other people pump iron and run sprints. After the workouts are over, and half of training camp has disappeared into the rearview mirror, Favre will be attempting to un-retire and engineer his way on to the Minnesota Vikings.

BU wins the Beanpot

Congratulations and a shout out to Boston University on winning the 57th Beanpot Championship this weekend in Boston. Twenty-nine titles in fifty-seven tournies is mighty impressive for the Terriers. The Beanpot tournament began in 1952 and in its second year moved into the old Boston Garden. Over the years BU has gotten the better of its intra-city rivals. The three other Boston schools that contest the Beanpot every year are Boston College, Harvard and Northeastern. It helps the prestige of the tournament that the schools are annually among some of the top tier of college hockey programs.

NBA notes

Saw a fun little column, "Around the Association" from the Cleveland Plain-Dealer that had three interesting NBA notes. One was kind of a follow-up to the LeBron v. Kobe arguments that were everywhere following their big games at the Garden last week. The Plain-Dealer's column found an NBA blogger who has tracked players' last second shots, defined to be players' shots with less than twenty-four seconds remaining in the game and the team trailing by two points or less. This guy says surprisingly, it is not LeBron or Kone who leads the NBA in last second shot percentage. Instead, it is Carmelo Anthony, who has made 13-of-27 (48% career).

Another note from the Plain-Dealer's column was on a crazy revenue sharing agreement that the Clarion Content had never heard of previously. Get this,

"Ozzie and Dan Silna...legends...in the NBA business community for a deal they struck in 1976. At that time, the ABA merged with the NBA, with the San Antonio Spurs, Indiana Pacers, Denver Nuggets and then-New York Nets becoming full members. However, the Kentucky Colonels and the Spirits of St. Louis, owned by the Silna brothers, weren't allowed in. To settle things up, the Colonels took a one-time payment of $3.3 million and the Silnas took $2.2 million and - OK, here it is business-school students - one-seventh of the television revenue of the Pacers, Nuggets, Spurs and Nets in perpetuity. That's right, forever.

Apparently, it's an ironclad contract because those four NBA teams have tried to get out of it for years and failed. So each year, they send the money. CNBC recently estimated that the Silna brothers already had made $186 million on the deal - without owning a team, paying for the players and coaches, etc. - when the NBA reached its most recent television contract last year. This new deal with TNT and ESPN will pay the Silna brothers about $19 million more per year until 2016."

Holy crow, talk about an amazing, but little known story.

The final note we saw and liked from the Plain-Dealer was that former NBA player David Wesley has gone back to college to finish his degree. He took sixteen credit hours and got a 4.0 average last semester while helping out with the school's surging basketball program, too. Good for you David!

A further note from our editorial offices, we have heard some criticism of the New York Knicks crowd this week for ostensibly chanting MVP at Kobe Bryant. As Bill Simmons noted on his podcast, these weren't Knicks fans. Those were people who had scalped their tickets from real Knicks fans. And the reason LeBron didn't get as much cheering the following night, despite having a better game and Knicks fans fervent desire to have him come to New York, was that the game was closer. Knicks fans, first and foremost, would prefer to win. The Lakers game was a blow out, the Cavs wasn't.

A-Fraud

Heading back to the dugout after another strikeout with men on base...

The strangest thing about the revelations that Alex Rodriguez has been taking steroids since back in 2003, allegedly, is the reaction. What you are surprised? Why? He was on a team with known cheaters Rafael Palmeiro, Juan Gonzalez, Ivan Rodriguez, and Ken Caminiti. Jose Canseco's book, Vindicated, says A-Fraud had been introduced to steroids suppliers even earlier in his career. The numbers are pretty compelling, in his five full seasons before he went to Texas in 2001, A-Fraud averaged 36.8 homers per. In the eight season since he met the Texas Medical Miracles, A-Fraud has averaged 45.5 homers per. Huh.

The Clarion Content sure is glad the Yankees bid $300 million over ten years against no other takers to bring this guy back, especially since he comes up so small in post-season. More sound advice brought to you by the bankers at Goldman Sachs. Good work. Way to choose A-Fraud over Joe, gentlemen.

The Clarion Content proposes Randy Levine be hung by his toes as part of the opening of the new Yankee Stadium, circa 2009. We would be fine with the Yankees summarily cutting A-Fraud and receiving nothing in return. Fair is fair, nutin' for nutin'.

Gladly

Word one the street is that it is possible that... the New York Rangers may be reacquiring controversial winger Steve Avery.

The Clarion Content is all for it. Yes, we know Avery is a super pest, and a chippy player. Personally, we loved his harassment of the Devils Marty Brodeur. It was so outlandish that the NHL responded with a rule change the next day. Hey, many of our editorial staff grew up Rangers fans in a Bobby Clarke era, it is nice to have a guy like that on the Rangers side for a change. Last time they did, in the person of Esa Tikkanen, the Rangers were winning and contending for Cups. (Of course, Mark Messier was the keystone, but Tikkanen was a foundation piece player.)

We never did understand why the Dallas Stars and the NHL reacted so harshly to Avery's comments about his ex-girlfriends. We had thought it was America, not Canada that had the puritan streak. We couldn't (and can't) imagine why Avery wasn't filing a grievance about his suspension. Seriously, the thuggery, the deliberate attempts to injure like knee-to-knee checks, the boarding, the slashing, that the NHL has seen go on with less penalty than Avery has faced!?! We can't believe he has been banished since November. The NHL has enrolled him in its NHL/NHLPA behavioral health program. Yikes, holy thought police.

LeBron!

Two nights after Kobe Bryant lit up Madison Square Garden and the "Seven seconds or less" Knicks for 61 points, LeBron James and the 38 up and 9 down Cleveland Cavaliers came to town. The New York media was apparently aflutter over whether LeBron would try to eclipse Kobe's point total, which broke the Garden scoring record, previously held by Bernard King.

It is not exactly in keeping with the Global Icon's selfless win-first style to try to beat another guy's individual point total. So LeBron did what global icon's do, went out and did his own inimitable thing. 52 points, 11 assists and 10 boards, the NBA's first 50 point-plus triple-double since Kareem in 1975. (It was later revised down to 9 boards, falling just short of the triple-double.)

Oh and by the way, it is not a technicality, it is reality to say that LeBron's 52 points plus 11 dimes (resulting in 22 points) is a greater net contribution to his team's scoring than Kobe's 61 points and 3 dimes (resulting in 6 additional points.)

So that's how it is in Cincinnati

Mississippi basketball coach Andy Kennedy, who was arrested in downtown Cincinnati on December 18th after a taxi driver said the coach hit him and used racial epithets, was also caught on videotape by the cops. The crux of the dispute was that the taxi driver would not allow more people than the rules state to squeeze into a cab. We have all been there, you just have to take two cabs, Coach, it is not the end of the world. But instead of exercising a little patience Coach Kennedy went ape shit, allegedly.

The funniest part however is the newly released police video tape. Kennedy was caught on tape pleading with officers, according to the Associated Press, "I'm begging you ... this is a major deal, man. This is going to be a national incident, sir." The cop's response says it all, stay classy Cincinnati, "You think we've never arrested somebody that's made national media? ...We deal with the Bengals all the time."

How not to play the Lakers

If you can make it here, you can make it anywhere...

The new look Lakers, they are new look because, unfortunately, their rising star of a young center Andrew Bynum was hurt at the end of last week and will likely miss the rest of the regular season. The new look Lakers are smaller and faster. Pau Gasol has replaced Bynum as the center, moving over from power forward. Lamar Odom, 6'9" and an uber-versatile swingman has replaced Bynum as a starter.

As the Knicks so ably demonstrated last night in Madison Square Garden, what you don't want to do is try to run up and down the court with these guys. Of course, now that Mike D'Antoni is in the Eastern Conference nobody is playing the seven seconds or less basketball on the west coast. Good thing for them. You try to run with them and the Lakers will crush you. Last night in the Garden Gasol had an overlooked 31 points and 14 rebounds. Why was Gasol's big night overlooked?

Because Kobe Bryant went off, and broke the all-time Madison Square Garden scoring record held by the legendary Bernard King. Kobe went for 61 points, to break King's record, set against the hapless Nets, by one. Kobe shot 61% from the field and made 20 out of 20 from the free-throw line. Whoa. By the end even the Knicks home crowd gave him a standing ovation.

Read more here in the New York Times.