The Baseball Hall of Fame turns 70 today.  Who is the greatest player ever?  Should Pete Rose, Barry Bonds, and other disgraced players be included in the HOF?  Is it fair that Kobe Bryant most likely raped a girl and will still easily make the Basketball HOF, while Bonds, Manny and others who did steroids may very well not make it into Baseball’s HOF?

Discuss…

The Chiba Lotte Marines are using these retro movie-style posters depicting the home team defending the city from attack by villainous monster opponents.

See more at the always awesome Pink Tentacle!

Last night, Houston Rockets backup center Dikembe Mutombo injured his knee.  Knee injuries happen all the time but Mutombo is 43, the oldest guy in the NBA.  He retired immediately after the game, saying that he cried while he was on the floor in pain, realizing that it was all over.  Mutombo has earned his living the last 18 years playing professional basketball while devoting his life to humanitarian efforts.  His foundation built a hospital in the Congo, named after his mother, who died of malaria.  By all accounts he’s a wonderful guy which is rare enough in the regular world but especially in professional sports.

About fifteen years ago when I was just a kid, I watched Mutombo lead a really shoddy Denver team to a playoff upset of #1 ranked Seattle.  He fell to the floor in joy.  It seemed impossible.  When I hear “Mutombo crying on the floor” or even “Mutombo” this is what I’d like to remember, not that first pic.  I found out you can donate $5 to his foundation by texting “congo” to 90999,  so I did it.  I’ll be sad when everybody who I watched as a kid is gone from professional sports with hobbled knees.

More (and better written) Mutomb-preciation c/o Complex, Can’t Stop the Bleeding and The Houston Chronicle.

The Knicks’ current season has been very disappointing to me.

Every year for 9 years has been an exercise in lowering expectations, only to have those lowered expectations lowered again and then again and then again every year. Why do I continue to subject myself to this? What possible benefit can come in me watching basketball games, reading about the team, going to games on the rare occasions that I’ve had the chance to go to Madison Square Garden and devoting a small piece of my brain to the Knicks, who always fall short?

I even supported ex-Knick Bill Bradley in his presidential primary vs. Al Gore, despite the fact that he has creepy eyebrows. He also fell short. Part of my brain cares, even though I don’t know any of the players on the team personally and they’ll all be gone by the time the Knicks start to win anyways.

Maybe I should just quit entirely and give up following basketball and get on with my life. You know, put away childish things and devote the freed up time and energy to write a novel, bake a cake or volunteer for Amnesty International. [Read more →]