BruceW

Hey B-3er, Just remember, the league has increased the number of teams greatly and the total population of rostered players BUT..... they have not increased the number of players proportionally to be on the All Star Team, that is the problem. That is why so many deserving players are not there. So having said that, just remember my man, Detroit Rocks, they ended the Showtime era and then ended the Shaq and Kobe era.... B-)

Yeah, riiiggghhhtttt!!!! Want a hankie???? B-)

Detroit Rocks !! B-) Vibeman Bruce

Mark, This is a very distinguished web site. Well put together and easy to navigate. I especially liked the picture of Curtis Fuller, Donald Byrd and Charles McPherson. They are all from my old neighborhood growing up, Northwestern H.S. district in Detroit, Michigan. Man haven't seen any of them in decades, so that was very nice. Well no, I saw McPherson at the Playboy Festival last year. Anyway, thanks for the trip down nostalgia lane. B-)

Comon Piston fans, keep this thread alive... Yeah that's right, Pistons on the move..... Don't hate, don't underestimate and don't be late.... Go Pistons B-)

You don't REALLY expect to get a ticket, do you????

B3-er Yeah it was great they won, but they almost gave it away again. I truly think they will be alright but Larry Brown needs to WORK on that bench unit. B-)

Hey B 3-er, Don't worry, Detroit will be okay. Yeah I wish Memo was back too. The bench has a lot of attitude and physical work to do. BUT, you know what, Larry Brown is making excuses for something else. He has a very bad habit of leaving teams when they are getting good or got good. He is not handling the attention and probably wants to quit like he always does. I just don't believe what everybody is making out to be so damaging to the kids etc., etc., etc. Shit, we saw fights and mess all the time as kids. All kids see this stuff and most kids get a kick out of it. People need to listen to kids when the kids get together and think there is no one else listening. PR and SMOKE SCREENS is a very complicated business!!! B-)

Myself, I reserve judgement on Darko. He is very young and is not getting playing time. He was also out last year at some point due to something being broken I think. He is going through the typical first 3 years on a loaded team. I got this gut feeling that he is part of the Detroit future and will be good. B-)

Yeah you are right. It is my understanding they did not want to pay Corliss Williamson and Mehmet Okur the money. I think they through in James to make a deal. The worse thing about Detroit, even worse than Darko was trading for Derrick Coleman, a beat up, worn out, overweight, out of shape, attitude carrying veteran who can no longer cut the mustard. B-)

Yeah, that's what you think! When she is tall enough she can make the transition in ONE day, she will be that good. Beware B-)

Yeah, Blazers are in trouble again. That little pip squeek of a guard Stoudemire has been in the league 10-12 years now and still cannot make the right decisions. B-)

Yeah, I saw it. Prince is going to be great. Detroit is getting it together. They just need to mesh the new players into the mix. They still have their entire first unit, so they will be alright. B Wallace is getting more and more aggressive on offense and they needed that. Now if R Wallace can just take it to the middle a lot more, they will be fearsome again. Well then again, Billups and Hamilton do that a lot anyway. Shoutin at ya B-)

Pistons not on TV out here tonight. Glad to hear Pistons and B Wallace doing it. They will be okay. No injuries and 3 -4 more games and they will be clicking. B-)

I've seen it dozen times by many different players/teams. We're talking about "after a fight." B-)

I'm afraid "dirty fouls" as you call them goes back further than that. You might remember when special subtitutions were made during a game to send in the "hatchet men." That term gave way to the Enforcers then to the Power Forwards. Those "hatchet" men would come in the game and literally make life very miserable for the opposing athlete that was scoring "too many points" or to just take a foul but to also let the opposing player know what his status was. Do you remember Jim Luscatoff???? Yeah he was with Boston also but way before the 80's. B-)

Everyone has a take on this situation, as well they should, I do also. I say.... Let's go back to the foul which is ultimately being written off as "not so bad" etc ... That is bullshit. Watch the tapes close, very close. Artest crashes Wallace after Wallace has left his feet. This is a guard forward crashing a center/power forward from behind; insane and very intentional. This could have been a scenario where Ben Wallace was hurt very bad, except for the fact he is so strong and was able to land and stay on his feet. Now having said that..... Ben Wallace is (this year) also becoming an offensive threat and none of the other teams are really care as long as long as Ben does not instill fear in them. Since that did happen, as a result no player is going to "go after" Ben Wallace again. I think he pretty much established that he is going to knock the piss out of anyone who comes at him. Bravo!! If you watched closely, after Ben nearly took his head off, Artest back pedaled very rapidly out of reach. This is a right of passage for every big guy in the league and always has been. Artest is nuts, but Ben has arrived (fines, suspension and all). Now, Artest should NEVER have been laying up on the scorer's table. The coaches should have put more space between Artest and Wallace and the rest may never have happened. But since it did, let us not pretend that this is the first time or the players was "oh so bad." We all may not remember the Kermit Washington event, but let us please not forget the "right of passage" when Kareem Jabbar decked Kent Benson. It is going to happen as long as there is a league and the athletes are real people. Ben Wallace: (fine me, suspend me, and then lets get on with the game like Jabbar). Artest: (I have a real problem, please help me or kick me out of the league like you did Kermit Washington). B-)

Yeah, me too. NO call for fans to act out like that. Tonight, they stunk!!!

Not this bunch of Lakers... B-)

Of course, that is why there are so many, duh! You watch, when they start running out of individual stories, people will start dying. It works. But hey, how do you think that polar bear got there in the first place??? Probably from the previous plane crash or however. At first I thought there was some sort of scientific experimentation station there, but it seems they have veered away from that. And now they seem to be implying that this "survivor" is the "IT" that killed them all. We'll see......... B-)

Gee, and I thought he got Bill Evans because Red had died!!!!! Come to think of it, Paul Chambers, the bass player, died around that time also. B-)

I am a steadfast Piston fan, but if Kobe ever finds out that he is only Kobe, then he will become great. He must learn that he is NOT Michael Jordan and never will be. B-) Just a nice tidbit for you Laker fans. Peace

Well Noj.... I'm not so strict that I cannot see your agony. Like I said, Mitch Kupchek and management really weren't thinking...... I agree that Kobe has more culpability than has been accepted. HOWEVER, I do think our society has not taken into account of man being just another species in the "animal kingdom." We laugh at all other animals when the male becomes insistent on mating (whether it be female heat or whatever). Man is no different, that is to say that once a certain point is reached in the ritual of man/woman connection, man is no more responsible than the woman when it comes to stopping the event. In fact, man is almost helpless. So having siad that, WHY did she go to his room in the first place, WHY did she start the ritual by kissing him and (as reported elsewhere) give him a "heady" head start in the ritual? I don't really believe any of us could have stopped at that point. Hence, not rape but an animal event that cannot be stopped. Now there is the legality of all this....... Back to basketball, the Lakers won tonight and was I surprised. There were a few losses tonight that I did not expect..... oh well, it is still early. No problem, I'm cool.... B-) I just also happen to be under fire by a whole group of Laker fans elsewhere. In fact, if the Lakers have a better record then the Pistons at the end of the regular season, I have to post some very humble pictures of myself. Nice talking to ya Make music BruceW

I am constantly amazed at what is printed here and how differently it is interpreted. I was talking about only this present team since Kobe got his "wishes." That was not hard to understand from all the previous threads about the spoiled brat and the young team. In deference to your statement, yes, the Lakers as an organization with a past history is a great organization with lots and lots of championship banners. But, that is not the thread here. The thread here is dealing with "this present" team. As you are obviously a Laker fan, you should understand that this team will not represent the caliber of Lakers past. If, by some twist of fate, this team develops these youngsters into a major threat to the title, then so be it, but don't look for it.

Can't resist this either, but San Antonio also showed everyone who the Lakers really are.....