Buss Stopped

I hesitate to even make light of this because he obviously has a problem. NBA Commissioner David Stern fined L.A. Lakers owner Jerry Buss, the man who has been fueling the Kobe-watch, $25,000 and suspended for 2 games after a misdemeanor drunk-driving conviction over the summer.

First, Jerry Buss is 74 years old. That's all I'll say about that.

Second, what is a 2-game suspension and $25,000 going to do? If anything, he's probably looking forward to having an excuse to not go to a game. And $25,000 is a drop in the bucket for this guy. If Stern really wanted to penalize him, then he would have fined him more and dropped that suspension stuff.

I can't wait to see what Stern comes up with after Zeke, James Dolan and the Knicks lose their appeal!

Everybody's Doing It

I have to give it to David Stern for even publicly admitting this, but maybe he didn't have a choice.

Following the NBA board of governors' meeting, Commissioner Stern made the revelation that every single one of the 56 NBA referees had engaged in gambling in some form or another.

Ha! That is too good! You mean not one of them hadn't played the lotto, pulled the one-armed bandit, or bet on a horse race. That has to be a bad feeling, when you have a rule that every single person who is supposed to follow it has broken.

Wisely figuring out that "it's not you, it's me" is the best way to get out of this one, Stern has decided to change the rule to make it workable.

"Everyone violated the rule in some way, whether it was playing poker, buying lottery tickets & but I don't consider it a violation of the rules to buy a lottery ticket or play golf for $5," Stern said.

($5? What are you paying these guys?)

Well, either change it, or become a laughing stock when all of the refs take turn serving their suspensions. The new rules will allow some gambling, including casinos during the off-season, although some owners thought that in-season casino gambling should be allowed, too. Some other rules changes:

• The identities of the referees assigned to specific NBA games will now be released the morning of the game, rather than 90 minutes before tip-off. Stern said this would eliminate that information being used as currency in the gambling business.

• Referees will be given more training and gambling-related counseling during the season, rather than the past practice having them attend one lecture prior to the season.

• Referees will be subject to more detailed background and security checks, and the league will begin to look at statistical trends in NBA games and how they correspond to gambling trends in those games.

• The league will promote more accessibility between referees and NBA teams, and more formal interaction between them.

This last one is interesting. Maybe to know the refs is to love them?

I actually respect Stern more for being man enough to admit that the rule didn't work. It looks like nobody had an interest in enforcing the rule to begin with:

"About half had gone to casinos over a period of years with no great frequency. No sports books. No bookmakers," Stern said, adding that enforcement of the gambling rule was so lax that referees traditionally held a large poker tournament at their annual meeting.

Wow. That's not lax enforcement. I believe that's called sanctioning.

NBA players, take note. If you want to get Stern to change the ridiculously strict rules on attire, band together and agree to show up in hoodies with your jeans around your knees. Karl Malone's gone, so you just might be able to get everyone to go along with it. . .

In other news, Stern announced that the NBA definitely won't be sanctioning all involved in the Anucha Browne Sanders case until the appeals process has been completed. Fair enough. But he has ordered that every employee on all 30 teams undergo sensitivity training. Hmm. I wonder how will Isiah will feel when they play his deposition tape as Exhibit A: Do NOT Do This.

Now You Want To Focus On Defense?

So Zeke alleviated our fears that he would not be able to focus on the going-to-be-awesome New York Knicks after the train wreck that was his trial. Zeke is back on the court after being in one for the past few weeks. I bet he has never been so happy to hear grown men whine and complain in his life. Said the NY Times of his training camp practice in South Carolina:

[Isiah] forced a chuckle now and then, and suppressed a sigh when asked about the “too familiar” sight of [Knicks' player Jerome] James, a $30 million investment, watching from the sideline.

“Is it too familiar or very familiar?” Thomas said. It was noted that very familiar was an observation of fact, whereas too familiar was more of an editorial comment.

“Well, let’s stick with the facts,” Thomas said with a laugh, echoing the words he used to defend himself against the harassment charges.

Wow Zeke. Nothing says "I'm a winner" like making a joke about a sexual harassment trial that you lost prior to having your appeal heard. The Times article continues:

His expressions and words were more constrained when it came to specific questions about the trial, and its effects. Asked about potential distractions, he said: “We won’t be distracted. No.” Asked if he was worried about his job, he answered simply, “No.” Asked if the case had any effect on the team, Thomas said, “None at all.” He referred a question about the possibility of a backlash from fans to a Knicks public-relations person, standing to his right.

I don't know how he knows if the trial had any effect on the team. I mean, at the least, they just might stop calling people names when they can't get tickets for their friends and family. More:

Thomas said he chose not to discuss his ordeal with the team, preferring to focus on the work at hand. That has been a difficult task because Thomas spent much of the summer preparing for the trial.

He huddled with lawyers during the day, but said he “worked a lot of nights” to prepare for the season and came to camp “extremely focused.”

“Honestly, my head never left basketball,” Thomas said. “This is what I’ve done and this is what I do. And this is what I think about the majority of the time.”

Thomas spoke earnestly of “trying to make some noise in the N.B.A.” and of putting the Knicks, who have not won a playoff game since 2001, in position to compete for a championship.

Because that's what his lawyers want to hear, that all he thought about was basketball. Maybe that explains his opinions on the word b*tch, and his lack of awareness of how the jury would perceive him. And good luck trying to make some noise in the NBA, Zeke. This could mean a) the Knicks will be a good team this year, or b) that NBA Commissioner David Stern is going to fine you and/or the Knicks for harassing your employees. Neither scenario is likely, but the former is darn near an impossibility. From the last lines of the article:

But what was Thomas’s main focus as he returned to the court?

“Defense,” [Knicks center Eddie] Curry said. “Defense.”

Well, if you can't succeed in one court, try another! On the bright side, there really is nowhere to go but up from here.

And the Weiner Is . . .

The hot topic, given much more air time than the entire trial, of the day is that Isiah "Zeke" Thomas and the New York Knicks were found liable for sexually harassing Anucha Browne Sanders. (Check this post for a link to my previous trial coverage.) Interestingly, the jury decided that only the Knicks, and owner James Dolan, have to fork over the $11.6 million that they awarded her.

Here is the breakdown:

The Garden owes $6 million for condoning a hostile work environment and $2.6 million for retaliation. Dolan owes $3 million [personally].

That's right, Zeke doesn't have to pay a penny. And that is even more than the $10 million that she requested.

Hmm. Well, I can't say I'm completely shocked, despite what I wrote below, because like I said, you just never know what a jury sees and processes as truth. Plus, we did not have the benefit of seeing this trial for ourselves like we did with O.J. And let's face it: Had you not seen the entire O.J. trial, you probably wouldn't have seen any way that they could have found him not guilty, either.

Having not watched the trial, I underestimated the effect that a-holes bad witnesses can have on a case. If the jury feels that a witness is being flippant, cold, uncaring, or is just flat out lying, then s/he could be talking about how their pet rabbit got decapitated (true story) and the jury wouldn't believe it.

I think that's what happened here. Zeke and Jimmy Boy, aka Dolan, most likely tried to come out smelling like roses, but when you have really bad facts (i.e., that you think it's not so bad to call a woman a b*tch), if you get on the stand acting like the perfect person, most juries are going to call BS. I'm not familiar with Dolan, but if the jury felt that only he and Knicks should be responsible, that tells me that they thought Dolan was the mastermind who sanctioned the inappropriate behavior, and Zeke was just the "jerk" (the jury's thoughts, not mine) he hired who fit his management style.

And take heart, Knicks fans (all three of you), $11.6 million is nothing compared to the $20 million they paid Allan Houston to sleep and pick his teeth.

Even though Isiah doesn't have to pay anything right now, you better believe that a club will think three times about hiring him with this highlight on his resume. Especially if they don't have the cash to throw around like the Knicks. And Isiah thought he had a tough time getting hired before this case.

I'm interested to see how the NBA will handle this. Bash a ref, you get a fine. Leave the bench to break up a fight, you also get a fine. Wear baggy jeans and a fitted, you're getting fined, too. But sexually harass your employees? Then the NBA says police yourself. If you really, truly care about the NBA's image, David Stern, then as the NBA commissioner, I think you just might want to address this one. Or not. (Law)suit yourself.