Dear Santa, On the night of March 20th, my mother's birthday, all wasn't well in the Achebe household. Steve Francis had performed a spectacular breakaway dunk using shoes I can only suspect that you gave him. I was gleeful, full of glee. I began jumping around with my 2" hops around the light of the chatroom, and all of a sudden the mood turned more sour than all of the old half and half I've ever left out for you. Stevie had gotten a technical. What is a technical you ask? A technical is a foul not from physical contact, but from unsportsmanlike conduct. However, Steve was being quite the sportsman. He's a good boy, but I don't have to tell you. He'd merely tried to psyche he and his teammates up in a game with playoff implications... kind of like the elves do on your tough nights around the world. Santa, the NBA is going to ****. I think that only you can fix it. I'm sending an early Christmas list again. We can do the usual, where I get half of my gifts on July first, and the other on 12/25. <u>July's gifts:</u> 1) I would like my good friend Bill Kennedy to get Giardia. 2) I would like my friends in the Rockets to get Chris Webber. I will send my 12/25 list before Halloween. A good boy for 28 years running, Achebe ------------------ (===)
Achebe, Please remember i only give gifts to boys who are nice and the act that is described in that nice guy Smegs signature (who was also kind enough to lend me his account for this post) does not infer you are nice. If your lucky i might stop you from going blind. Santa ------------------ "Repression never did me any harm (I finally ceased to include "stop masturbating" as one of my guilt ridden New Year's resolutions, but that's a different topic)." Achebe - programmer by day, Mrs Palmers Husband by night
LOL ------------------ Note: It was my cowhead. I started the cowhead craze, and my cowhead inspired Mooch to step up and bring us a victory. Thank you for your time.
hey glyde22 i was thinking about that call with clyde drezler that happened a few years back and i totaly agree with you. Yea the drive to charlotte is a hard one i have made it on many occasions from raliegh. We should start a Carolina chapter of rockets fans who all organize and go to charlotte once a year to see the rockets stomp all over the hornets. ------------------ ~John~ If you make it idiot proof, they will make a better idiot.
Here is what I sent the NBA offices. Let me preface my remarks by saying that I am a Rockets fan. Last evening March 20, 2001 the Rockets played the Sacramento Kings in Sacramento. I have no illusions that it would have been difficult for the Rockets to win so i don’t want what I am about to say to sound like sour grapes. On a call that can only be described as an egregious lapse in judgment on the part of referee Bill Kennedy, Steve Francis was ejected in the third quarter for what amounted to nothing more than a genuine display emotion. The same emotion that Vince Carter, Chris Webber, Latrell Sprewell ( and yes even the sacred Michael Jordan) have all displayed on many occasions. God forbid that players on a team fighting for their playoff lives after losing the greatest player in franchise history for the season (and perhaps permanently ) exhibit some emotion. Bill Kennedy is said to have stated that he did not realize that Francis had a prior technical. I find his incompetence more disturbing than if he had T’d Francis up out of malice (see; Jake O’Donell vs. Clyde Drexler). Does he give out technicals just because? The last time I checked people were buying tickets to see the players in this game not the refs. I am not as angry at him as I am with the NBA who wether by edict or endorsement have allowed referees to become the image police of the NBA. Passion is what fuels this game. It is why the players win and the fans keep coming back. It is what makes me drive three and a half hours on a week night to sit in nosebleed seats at the Charlotte Coliseum and turn around and go to work the next day. It makes me subscribe to NBA LeaguePass because you put them on national TV once in 82 games. It is why I yell and scream at that same TV even though I know no one but my neighbors will hear me.Passion is the essence of this game and that cannot be regulated for the sake of the leagues perceived image. What Francis did was not taunting. Furthermore slapping the backboard to me, and I believe most of the players in the NBA, is no more taunting than players motioning to crowds to get out of their seats. The league on one hand is buoyed by the play of young , gifted athletes and on the other demands that they curb their youthful enthusiasm. The league is overly concerned about packaging its product and in my opinion will ultimately stifle its growth. I am not a conspiracy theorist, but it seems that the NBA is on a mission to kill any display of individuality of late (ie; armbands). I have a feeling that you would ban corn rows and tattoos if you could and have every players shorts the length of Stockton’s in the early 90’s. My point is this, stop fiddling with it! The game will be fine without dictatorial regulation. The next crop of great players will mature and bring the casual fans back. Perhaps the next Jordan that you seek so desperately has already arrived and the fans will come to see him. Or perhaps no one noticed because he was tossed in the third quarter of last nights game. Thanks for listening. Sincerely, A Basketball Fan “Go Rocks” ------------------
Before this turns into a "Dear Santa" forum... here's a link to a thread discussing letters to the league regarding Steve's ejection : http://bbs.clutchcity.net/ubb/Forum3/HTML/011998.html ------------------ "It doesn't matter. If it's the Lakers or the Spurs, I'm going to kill them." -- Cuttino "Jack" Mobley on possible playoff opponents.
Policing the Chat.....now trying to put me out of a job too? Mango ------------------ Get it right or just don't do it! Resistance is futile....you will be assimilated.
Sorry Mango, I only strive to be like you knowing I never can... Carry on Borg leader. Assimilate 'em. ------------------ "It doesn't matter. If it's the Lakers or the Spurs, I'm going to kill them." -- Cuttino "Jack" Mobley on possible playoff opponents.
Atlanta is a very long drive for me from Raleigh (but only a short plane flight) so we'll see. Maybe if it is on a weekend. ------------------ ~John~ If you make it idiot proof, they will make a better idiot.
