-SEA just allowed 67 points in a half against CHA, who sported a starting lineup of Brevin Knight, Melvin Ely, Jumaine Jones, Raymond Felton and Brezec Primoz. I have watched too many Sonics' games this year and their defense is amazingly bad. A sight to behold, actually. Most players don't even pretend to try. Well, Ridnour might be trying, but he's so slow it's hard to tell. They should trade for Damon Jones, just for fun. When you're this bad you have an obligation to try and become the worst ever.
-One alarming story this NBA season is the emergence of Robert Swift as a player that doesn't totally suck ass. I think everyone just naturally assumed he would reach previously unattainable levels of crappiness. I mean, come on, just look at the guy. I have probably seen him play about 30 minutes this year and the guy is pretty good for a 20 year old. He's active (in an intelligent manner, not just flailing at every opponent's shot within range) on the defensive end and actually has an idea of what to do when he gets the ball down low. Soft hands, too and shooting 53% from the field with 1.11 BPG in 20.1 MPG. A very disconcerting development.
-Like most of you, I watched the Super Bowl yesterday and living in Seattle I naturally rooted for the Seahawks. But don't confuse me for a fan; I haven't been to a game at Qwest Field and made no effort to watch their regular season contests. So you cannot label me a sore loser; I will lose no sleep over their loss.
But that officiating was an absolute fucking joke. I'm talking "the refs had money on the game" bad. The offensive pass interference that was called happens on virtually every pass play. The holding call, which prevented SEA from having a first down at the 1, was even worse. PIT was doing the same to Bryce Fisher all night; not to mention the guy was obviously in the neutral zone when the ball was snapped. There was also the textbook version of the "horse collar" tackle right in the ref with no flag. The most inexplicable call of the night was the "illegal block" flag on Hasselbeck. How the fuck can he make an illegal block when the other team has possession? And why the hell didn't any of the other refs step in and point out the obvious? My God, if I went to the doctor with stomach pain and he referred me to an OB-GYN I would hope the nurse would point out that, you know, I don't have a uterus.
Let's be honest here folks, the refs had just as much to do with the Steeler's win as PIT did itself.
Of course the real travesty here is that little to nothing will change. Professional sports are a multi-billion dollar business in this country. Yet the refs and their ilk, the effective auditors of the industry, are held to virtually no standards. They're like accountants who can't work calculators. And the meager processes and regulations enacted by the NFL etc. are no more than ineffectual place holders.
Every person who lost money on SEA should get together and file a class action lawsuit against the NFL, who claims that their product is a fair contest. Fair my ass. And every sports fan knows how huge and pervasive this problem is and so does the NFL, which has done virtually nothing to fix it. Yeah, yeah, instant replay. A lot of good that did last night. The NFL has shown clear negligence (hence, lawsuit) in addressing the obvious problem that affects the very relevance of the sport itself. What's the point of competing if the judging is not fair?
No doubt a slew of mind-numbingly stupid former ball players will publicly resist change, citing that "it's part of the game" and changing the judging process would "effect the integrity of the game." What fucking integrity? The refs played a bigger role in the outcome of the Super Bowl than the winning QB. That argument is a crock of shit unless by integrity they mean "the ability to rake in billions of dollars." And "it's part of the game" is absolutely meaningless. Sickness is a part of life, so why take medicine? Fucking morons. Not you. Those other people.
I am sure the NFL will come out with the usual "they did the best they could" and "there were a series of judgment calls blah blah blah." That's all true, but so fucking what? The judges judged wrong and greatly affected the game due to rampant incompetence. Deal with that Tagliabue.
-Another thing that's pissing me off: this whole "Billups for MVP" crap. Look, go ahead and label him the best PG in the game. I have little problem with that. But "Most Valuable Player?" The only recently posed opinion more ridiculous than that is "All 5 Piston starters should make the All Star Team." (Which, of course, would entirely negate the MVP argument if there was any validity to it.) Does anybody really think Billups means more to DET than Lebron does to CLE? Or Kobe does to LAL? Or Brand to LAC? Or Wade to MIA?
There's no doubt DET is having an amazing season and should be the favorite going into the playoffs and finals. But they're only 2.5 games ahead of DAL and SA and they play in the weaker conference. (Yes, they would crush the Spurs if the finals started today.) And nobody is saying that Tony Parker should be the MVP or that Lesagna Diop should make the All Star Team. Simmer down people.