A New Low

The NBA has resached a new low when it comes to officiating. How they can give Rasheed Wallace a $25,000 fine for criticizing the officials for calling fouls on what were clearly flops by the Celtics and then announce the same day that they are going to institute fines for flopping next season is unforgivable. It also comes one day after the league office admitted a two shot foul should have been called at the end of game four of the Spurs and Lakers series. Wallace was clearly punished for his past indiscreations, so why then was official Joey Crawford not suspended or fined for not making the correct call when he has a past history with the Spurs? The NBA is acting as ignorantly as possible. As I mentioned in my last blog, it is beyond belief how the NBA can be so smug to think that with the ongoing referee scandal that they can allow this to go on. David Stern has allowed the dignity of the game to come into question which as Commissioner is ludicrous.

OS-GREAT

The Detroit Red Wings are on the brink of Stanley Cup greatness and Chris Osgood is the main reason why. He is shutting up all of his critics with his back to back shutouts to open the finals. Up against arguably the games greatest player in Sidney Crosby, the reigning MVP, and a host of other great young stars, Osgood has been superb. Osgood has widely been regarded as the worst goalie to ever win a Stanley Cup, even though his career statistics are Hall Of Fame worthy. Despite the fact that Detroit won the first two games by a combined score of 7-0, it was clearly the greatness of Osgood that was the difference in the two games.
Osgood is a bit of an oddity, a two time cup champion who reinvented himself to become an even better goalie than before. He has improved his speed and perfected the butterfly technique, which shows his dedication to the game, considering he is a 300 game winner and ranks first in winning percentage among goalies in career wins in the regular season.
The knock on Osgood is the talent he has played with during his career, which is completely unfair. Every player in any sport is only as great as the people around them. Would Michael Jordan be the greatest without Scottie Pippen and Phil Jackson? Would Magic have been as great without Worthy and Kareem? Probably not, but we will never know.
The fact of the matter is, Chris Osgood is a terrific goalie with championship rings, and in this postseason alone has replaced a legend in the Dominator, and led the Wings to within two games of the championship, while stopping all 41 shots thrown his way in the finals. He is 12-2 in the playoffs this year alone. To take that for granted is completely ludicrous. Greatness is defined by being remarkable in magnitude or effectiveness, which Osgood has been guilty of without a doubt.
I’m not for a minute saying that Chris Osgood is the greatest of all time, because he isn’t. My point is that he should not be punished because of who he has played with. For example, Patrick Roy won two Cups with Sakic and Forsberg along with other greats and he is regarded as the best to ever mind the net. In today’s society too many people want to search for the flaw in the greatness of a player because of all the steroids and other drugs destroying the purity of the game. Hockey has taken a back seat to all the other major sports because of the lock out, and soccer has never been accepted in the main stream, funny thing is, those are the only sports where steroids have not been an issue.
So, I guess the point of this article is to say that in today’s society true greatness is taken for granted too much. It’s a shame because Ozzie is a great player and a great story, but because he isn’t flashy and doesn’t draw any undo attention to himself, no one will ever know or appreciate his greatness.

Stealing The Heart Of A Champion

The referees have destroyed what should have been one of the greatest series in the history of the NBA. If the name on the back of Brent Barry's jersey had been Garnett, Bryant, or Jordan he would have been shooting three free throws, and the teams would be sitting at 2-2, instead of going back to L.A. 3-1. Maybe if the Spurs were a little flashier and the NBA didn't desperately want the Lakers to play the Celtics in the finals they would have gotten the call. The NBA cares more about T.V. ratings than fair play. The last time the Spurs and Pistons played in the finals they had horrible ratings, even though it was a great seven game series with all the drama you could have asked for. Then last year against the Cavs the ratings were even worse. It's not hard to imagine that their could be some favorable officiating going on due to the recent scandle with former official Tim Donaghy and Commissioner David Sterns refusal to look into other allegations made by said referee about officials favoring certain players and coaches. The fact alone that Joey Crawford was officiating the game and was the primary official closest to the play is ridiculous. It has barely been a year since Crawford was suspended indefinately for his actions against Tim Duncan of the Spurs. How the NBA can allow this to happen with it's on going scandal is absolutely absurd, it is worse than the steroids in baseball, because it could have easily been prevented. While there is no true proof of any cheating going on, it's the stinch of suspicion, just like in baseball when a player has a career year, there is that shadow of doubt, fair or unfair, it is undeniable because of the smugness of the commisioner in each sport.