NY Knicks drop the proverbial ball

NBA commissioner David Stern has finally gotten around to blasting the New York Knicks for how they handled the Isiah Thomas sexual harassment lawsuit. The Knicks lost the lawsuit in October and were ordered to pay $11.6 million to the plaintiff, Anucha Browne Sanders.

Stern, displeased with the Knicks for not taking other actions, said this to ESPN:

"It demonstrates that they're not a model of intelligent management. There were many checkpoints along the way where more decisive action would have eliminated this issue."

It’s too bad this comes far too late. Had he said this before the trial happened, maybe the Knicks would have agreed to settle out of court.

In my opinion, some of the blame has to fall on Stern himself. Obviously, this kind of press is not good for a league that is trying to clean up its image, regardless if the matter was settled out of court or not. But, Stern could have stepped in and offered advice to the Knicks; advice that may have kept them out of court. A small win in the image department, but a victory nonetheless. I think we can all agree that the last thing the NBA needs is more legal problems than what it already has.

Rise of Russia

Ever since the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia has been a shadow of it's former glory. They face a crisis of a rapidly shrinking population. Experts estimate that Russia is losing one million people a year. This problem began in the early 1990s, and Russian officials are frantic to solve it. The fall of the communist government was supposed to bring about democracy and industrial success, however the country has still struggled in the world markets.

Russian politicians long to regain the country's former standing in the international community. They have been envious of America's prestige as the sole world power on the globe. With Russia's greatly decreasing population it seems that the motherland will not regain what she had lost. Nevertheless, Russian activities are more frequently discussed as of late. Russian bomber planes have flown twice near Norway in a parade-like show of force. Admittedly, the planes remained over international waters, the incident caused quite a stir. Russian military recently tested what they claim to be the most powerful non-nuclear bomb.

Russia's increase in military activities has coincided with a rise in oil exportation. The country contains some of the largest oil fields in the world, and has begun to compete against Saudi Arabia as the leading provider of natural gases.President Vladimir Putin desires to head a revived Russia respected world-wide. Russia's weak democracy has become more of a pretense as Putin asserts more executive control over the country's policies. The parliament appears to be a rubber stamp for his wishes. Countries have a right to build up armies as they see fit, however Russia is worth watching in the near future. Russia's history is rich with intrigue, and the Russian machine seems to be building up steam again.

A-Rod, Boras, take a hike please

As little as yesterday afternoon I would have happily accepted Alex Rodriguez as a Detroit Tiger. True, it would have been nearly impossible for him to become a Tiger (impossible now that they have traded for Edgar Renteria), but I figured that Rodriguez’s greatness warranted my respect.

And with one announcement he lost said respect.

Rodriguez, and his media-whore agent Scott Boras, decided that the most-opportune time to announce his decision to opt out of his contract with the Yankees would be during game four of the World Series.

Way to go A-Rod. Let’s defile the greatest series in baseball. At least if you were going to do it during the game, couldn’t you have showed up to accept your award before it?

I know it must hurt that you’ve never been to a World Series Alex. But, in all seriousness, how do you expect to get to the Series when you’ve hit an anemic .136 in the postseason since 2004? Put up or shut up.