Magic Johnson is always smiling

This is a world gone bonkers. Two conservative radio talk show hosts are accused of saying that Magic Johnson faked AIDS.

According to a partial transcript and audio clip posted on a media watchdog site, mediamatters.org, the remarks came after a caller asserted that health care isn’t a basic right. Perry responded by asking about treatable diseases that a person can live with for a long time “if you just get some basic drugs.”

Baker responded, “Like Magic Johnson?”

Perry replied, “Like Magic with his faked AIDS. Magic faked AIDS.”

Baker said, “You think Magic faked AIDS for sympathy?”

Perry replied, “I’m convinced that Magic faked AIDS.”

“Me too,” Baker said.

Johnson was diagnosed with HIV in 1991 and then retired from the NBA at 32.

source

These guys are idiots. Magic has the HIV virus. He is extremely competitive and yet had to retire early from the NBA because of the virus. Earvin is now a very successful business man worth millions of dollars.

Magic is a huge hero at my school Michigan State University, where he led the team to an NCAA Basketball National Championship as a sophomore. There is a statue erected outside of the stadium of Magic. He is remembered in the area, because he grew up there and has family roots there. He has never forgotten where he is from.

He is an outspoken spokesperson in the battle against AIDS.

After announcing his infection, Johnson teamed up with his physician Dr. Lynn Montana to help educate the world’s youth about the risks associated with HIV.[14] Johnson also set up the Magic Johnson Foundation to help combat HIV,[75] although he later diversified the foundation to include other charitable goals.[76] In 1992, he joined the National Commission on AIDS, but left after only eight months, saying that the commission was not doing enough to combat the disease.[75] He was also the main speaker for the United Nations (UN) World AIDS Day Conference in 1999,[76] and he has served as a United Nations Messengers of Peace.
source

Photo source Newscom

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Kevin Duckworth died of an enlarged and failing heart.

The police statement says the heart disease had combined with high blood pressure to result in “marked enlargement of his heart, which had been failing for some time.”

source

It seems almost poignant that the gentle giant, Kevin Duckworth, would die because his heart was just too big.

For more on Kevin Duckworth:

Duck Dead at 44

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Pau Gasol brings scoring to the Lakers

The Lakers essentially traded less than nothing to the Lakers for Pau Gasol.

In an unbelievable pickup the Lakers are right back in the hunt for the NBA Championship.

Wait a minute, is Pau that good?

No, but that is the beauty of it all, Pau Gasol does not have to be that good.

Right now he is a fill in for Andrew Bynum. When Bynum gets back you have a Pau Gasol that can put up points in the triangle offense, get some rebounds, give the Lakers more length, and present a mismatch on the floor at all times.

Have you ever seen this guy play?

He has a funky release on his jump shot, but it consistently goes in. Pau can knock down mid-range after mid-range jump shot with that funky release.

Other GM’s in the league are shaking their heads.

Around the league, the reaction of executives and coaches was unanimous: What a nightmare for us. When reached with the news, one Western Conference executive said simply, “Are you kidding? (Expletive) me.” source

They just realized that you will not get Kobe in a trade from the Lakers, he is going nowhere now and that the Lakers are for real. Suddenly Lamar Odom is a distant fourth option on this team.

Kobe celebrated by putting up 47 points on the Raptors.

David Stern

Think of the wild thoughts going through the Commissioner’s head right now. He has the golden memories of all those Boston LA series with Larry Bird of the Big Three vs. Magic Johnson and Kareem Jabbar.

Now, Stern is thinking Kevin Garnett of the Big Three (Ray Allen, Paul Pierce) vs. Kobe Bryant and Andrew Bynum.

Stern is smart enough to see he role the Pau plays in this and also to see the immense marketing dollars.

Funny how a single trade of a guy that no one was talking about can change things so quickly.

As for Memphis? They are just unloading salary and cleaning house. They are pathetic and know it. Time to start over.

NBA Basketball Fan Question Has Mitch Kupchak delivered?

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Danny Ainge can’t help but be happy these days

Who can forget all the epic battles with the Boston Celtics and the Los Angeles Lakers. Boston had an unbelievable starting lineup with Dennis Johnson and Danny Ainge complementing the big three of Robert Big Chief Parish, Kevin McHale, and Larry Bird.

When my Pistons played them, it was pick your poison. Stop Parish, McHale and Bird would score. Stop McHale, Parish and Bird would score. Stop B…well, you never really stopped Larry Bird.

NBA Basketball Robert Parish factoid Did you know that Robert Parish played in 1,611 NBA games? More than any other NBA player.

Now there is a new trio in town with some connections to the old group. Kevin McHale pulled the trigger on the trade that sent Kevin Garnett to Boston. Danny Ainge is the GM in Boston and also picked up Ray Allen in another off season trade. Larry is still around as well, as GM of the Pacers.

Paul Pierce talked about what is was like to have other superstars on the team.

“For me, it’s just interesting to be around these guys who’ve been in the same situation as me, carrying franchises for a long period of time and even at this point in their careers, just checking out how they go about their everyday approach and what they do to get better,” Pierce said, one day before the team left for training camp in Italy. “That’s what I’m learning.” source

It still begs the question as to how well the 3 players will mesh with each other and mesh with the team. That question inevitably draws comparison to the original big three, but Kevin Garnett was quick to point out the difference.

I know the (phrase) we’re using around Boston is the “Big Three” but honestly I don’t like that because McHale, Parish and Bird were the big three so we need to come up with another (phrase),” Rivers said. “I clearly know there’s work to do, and we’ve done nothing.”

But from ownership, management and coaches, all the way down to the players and locker room staff, nothing short of reaching the NBA Finals will satisfy the expectations.

You also can not discount their age. Kevin Garnett is 31, but has 12 pro seasons behind him, because he started playing right out of high school. This kind of works like dog years and 12 seasons makes you more like 34 or 35. Your knees and ankles can take only so much pounding.

Ray Allen is 32 with 11 years as a pro. Paul Pierce is 30 with 9 years of experience.

Will age work against them? Will they try to do too much and get injured?

Another factor is how well they will mesh together as a team. The original big three constantly looked for mismatches or the hot scorer. If those weren’t present then Larry Bird would find a way to score.

How will this team do it?

“The thing the three of us share is the (experience) of carrying teams, and it feels good to have help, to be honest, and to know that you’re not always front and center,” Garnett said. “I’m going to bring to the table what I bring, but it’s great to know that you’ve got two other guys with experience and know-how along with the experience in the regular games and playoffs.”

Doc Rivers will need to bring his best coaching job to the table.

It is easy to talk unselfish and another thing to perform it night after night.

Boston fans have to be excited about the possibilities and expectations could not be higher. Some fans and writers talk as if anything less than playing in the NBA Championship game would be a let down.

There is a very good chance for them to get there.

But as fans, we should be very happy to watch these three play and grow together and certainly there will be tough times, but also nights where it is just lights out and an easy victory for Boston.

NBA Basketball Fan Question Will all three stay happy?

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Willis Reed against the Boston Celtics

You have heard in Isiah Thomas – sad state of Knicks I about Isiah and James Dolan the owner, so now it is time to discuss the importance of the New York Knick franchise.

To open this discussion, you will be taken back, back, far back in the past to what some would call the early glory days for the NBA, when several of the Legends were formed. The Old Ones were playing in the league.

This was a time when TV had very few games on at all and even if you were lucky enough to get a chance to catch a game; it was not usually your local team. How odd that must seem now to the saturated television menu available these days, where sometimes an entire season plus interview shows, pre-game shows, and post-game shows are available.

No, in these days, there was a Saturday or Sunday afternoon game and it usually involved the Boston Celtics, New York Knickerbockers, or Los Angeles Lakers. Those three were the dominant teams with Boston having an awesome stretch of titles in a row and Los Angeles winning close to half of all the NBA titles given out.

Living in the mid-west, your intrepid author often caught the Boston or New York game and only very rarely would get to see the Detroit Pistons, my local team.

The Knicks became my favorite team to watch and there was good reason for that. There was no 3 point shot and often teams worked hard on offense to get a mid-range jumper.

The mid-range jumper is almost a lost art nowadays with the incredible 3 point shooting exhibited by even the big men of today. Big men rarely left the post in those days.

The Knicks were led by Willis Reed and Walt Frazier, with Walt being my favorite player for the way he could control a game and manage it until the right time came to take it over.

Bill Bradley, later a Senator, Dave DeBusschere, from close by Detroit, Jerry Lucas, now writing memory books, and Earl “The Pearl” Monroe made up the rest of that team.

They also had a free spirit forward by the name of Phil Jackson. Yes, that Phil Jackson, of Chicago and LA coaching fame and a guard from the great UCLA team called Henry Bibby, yes that Bibby, the father of Mike Bibby.

They were a star studded team in an era where there was very little player movement and the NBA was struggling to stay alive. It was long before the Magic/Bird high network ratings era.

Players would stay with teams for their whole career or until they were on the downside of their career. Trades were huge events. The early drafts even protected certain college players in your region from being drafted outside of your region. Your gallivanting author’s mind was quite young at that time and does not remember which years that took place.

The NBA needed New York with its large television market and semi-national appeal as it was basically marketing 3 teams to keep the league alive.

Today there are many powerful franchises like Dallas, Phoenix, and even small market teams like Detroit and Chicago, but still… still… You can hear David Stern, the NBA commissioner weeping over the demise of the once heralded New York franchise.

If Stern had his druthers and he must, because he has everything, doesn’t he? If he had his druthers, you can bet he would make the New York franchise great again.

Right now is scares David Stern to have all the goofballs running the Knicks and even playing for them. The demographics of the TV audience are asking for high speed selfless team play basketball epitomized by Dallas, Phoenix, and even San Antonio to a lesser degree. The very selfish, think only of my stats, ESPN slam dunk basketball, exhibited by the Knicks right now is not a big sell and they don’t win.

That last part, they don’t win, is especially bothersome to the NBA marketing execs.

Don’t be surprised if something comes down from the Commissioner’s office one day to clean up the Knicks and somehow grant them a great Center to build around and if that sounds like conspiracy, it is.

The NBA needs the Knicks, a healthy, happy, winning Knicks!

NBA Basketball Fan Question Do you remember the days when the Old Ones played?

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Isiah looks on in disbelief as the Knicks crumble

How does this guy keep his job?

Oh, this has nothing to do with the harassment suit.

(And how does he get out of any fines on that one?)

Isiah has sunk the Knicks to new depths of despair, but there is more to this story.

Enter James Dolan

The owner of the Knicks may be more of a problem than Isiah. Jim Dolan is the guy that hired Isiah and keeps him on the job. Jim Dolan is the guy that dumped a fortune into the Knicks and keeps dumping.

Didn’t think so. Only Dolan can spend $125 million on a single season’s worth of guards, forwards and centers and a potential $50 million on a single season’s worth of Larry Brown and come away with the priceless blueprint for how to ruin a big-league franchise.

Now some fans are fighting back for this once proud franchise with a petition to oust Jim Dolan. Here is an excerpt:

-Signed Allan Houston to $100 mil contract, when no other team offered him more than $75 (not even)
-Sprewell (the heart of the Knicks at the time) traded for Keith Van Horn
-Traded Ewing (instead of his expiring contract)
-Traded for Steve Francis in exchange of Penny Hardaway’s expiring contract.
-Signed Jerome James to a massive contract
-Signed Clarence Weatherspoon to a less massive contract than James
-Buyouts of Jalen Rose, Shandon Anderson, Maurice Taylor
-The hiring/firing of Larry Brown.
-The sexual harassment charges against MSG and Isiah Thomas

So, if you are a tried and true Knicks fan, you may want to check it out and see what it is all about.

The Squibster neither endorses or approves of anyone losing their job, unless their name has the initials M (att) M (illen), but that is a football GM story.

Tomorrow your intrepid author will delve deeper into why the Knicks are needed in the NBA.

NBA Basketball Fan Question The Knicks are loaded with boneheaded talented players. Will they even make the playoffs?

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Al Sharpton is demanding Isiah issue an apology for this comment he made in court.

In a videotaped deposition introduced at his sexual harassment trial, Thomas said: “A white man calling a black female ‘bitch,’ that is wrong with me. I am not accepting that. That’s a problem for me.”

But, asked whether he would be as angry if the same words came from a black man, Thomas said, “Not as much.” source

“I’m sorry to say. I do make a distinction,” Thomas said.

Al said he was going to lead protests at Madison Square Garden where the New York Knicks play.

Isiah as usual tried to weasel out of it.

Sharpton said that during their conversation Saturday, Thomas complained that his videotaped deposition had been edited in a way that took his comments out of context.

“I said, ‘Why have you not made that clear?’ He said, ‘Well, I’ve not been able to make it clear,’” Sharpton said, recounting the conversation.

At a news conference at the Knicks’ training camp in Charleston, S.C., Thomas said he hoped Sharpton would judge him based on “the facts” and not “the edited, spliced video that was leaked.”

Right. Believing that one. Oh, yes.

All of this came out in the recent Isiah court case that somehow Isiah weaseled out of getting in trouble.

A federal jury has decided that Madison Square Garden and its chairman must pay $11.6 million in damages to former New York Knicks executive Anucha Browne Sanders over her harassment lawsuit.

Isiah continued with the weaseling.

When asked to elaborate, Thomas declined, suggesting he frequently had his comments misinterpreted by the media — including an infamous case in which he was quoted as saying that Larry Bird would be considered “just another good guy” rather than a mega-star, if he were black.

“You can’t say that. You can say what you didn’t say because if you say what you didn’t say, than y’all print what is said. That’s how you got me on the Bird stuff,” Thomas said. “Whenever you say something, it just twists it.”

Now we know as a basketball player how he got into the paint so easily.

He just weaseled his way in.

NBA Basketball Fan Question Are you still an Isiah fan?

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Whatever happened to the Isiah we all loved as a Piston.

He was fiery and focused and always found a way to beat you.

Now Isiah is not just a bad General Manager, he has elevated his game to a bad person.

 And still he gets off.

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It is time to play four quarters of basketball.

Pre-Game – Isiah is in court for sexual harassment.

Keys for the game:

• How did it come to this?
• How did Isiah Thomas get there?

1st Quarter – Isiah Thomas has been to the mountain.

His college team, Indianapolis University, wins the NCAA tournament with Isiah as the star point guard playing for the always rough and tumble Bobby Knight.

Isiah leaves after his sophomore year to join the Pistons. Many teams are doubtful because of his size. In the Early Years, it is all Isiah and Kelly Tripucka.

2nd Quarter – Chuck Daly comes in to coach and Jack McCloskey is added as General Manager. The talent level grows with each new addition by Trader Jack, while Chuck applies his masterful system of keeping the players hungry and happy.

The Pistons win two titles. Isiah is the team leader; the heart and soul of the team. He uses Bill Lambeer as his enforcer in the locker room.

Half Time – Isiah once scores 25 points in a playoff game against the Lakers in one quarter! More astonishing, he does it on a severely sprained ankle.

Thomas makes the list of 50 All Time players in the NBA.

3rd Quarter – Isiah retires from the Pistons and owner Bill Davidson has a fight with him and kicks him out of the organization.

Isiah does a poor job of coaching the Pacers and GM Larry Bird kicks him out of the organization.

4th Quarter - Isiah becomes the worst GM in history (until Matt Millen of the Lions) for the New York Knicks. He continuously signs selfish players for too much money. He has a great eye for talent and a lousy eye for teammates that sacrifice for one and other.

For whatever reason, the Knicks do not kick him out.

Post Game: Isiah goes to court for sexual harassment.

He said an incident in which he allegedly dragged the plaintiff by the arm and accosted her after a loss to the Jazz never happened. In fact, according to Thomas, he spoke with Garden president Steve Mills after that game and didn’t even raise his voice. Browne Sanders might or might not have been present, Thomas said.

Thomas’ testimony began on Tuesday afternoon and will resume on Wednesday, when he is expected to continue to deny that he sexually harassed Browne Sanders.

Isiah has reached rock bottom.

He said – She said

Browne Sanders testified that Thomas subjected her to a hostile work environment by lacing conversations with profanities and treating her harshly during his first year on the job, before reversing tactics and smothering her with inappropriate sexual advances in his second year.

Thomas testified that Browne Sanders made his job more difficult and got in his way by trying to undermine his authority. He said he always treated her with respect and never directed any profanities at her. source

Rock Bottom.

NBA Basketball Fan Question – Did you see this coming?  What has happened to Isiah?

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