Monday Stuff

This is more attention than, truth be told, I feel like paying to NBA basketball, but I feel like I have to comment on the news that the career of Sixers marquee center Andrew Bynum has apparently ended, as noted here, before it ever began (the guy commenting in the video below turned out to be smarter than anyone in the Sixers’ supposed brain trust).

So the Sixers trade Andre Iguodala, former first-round pick Nik Vucevik plus some other guy, plus some other first-round picks (not sure, but I think they did) for a guy who won’t play a minute this season and probably not ever for this team.

You want to know part of the reason why this train wreck happened? Philly sports talk radio, that’s why, particularly WIP. Those morning nitwits made a career out of attacking Iguodala and could barely contain their glee when it was traded. Yes, it was unrealistic to expect Iguodala to lead that team the way another player with those same initials did previously. But is that Iguodala’s fault?

Hell, I didn’t think anything could be worse than the Charles Barkley trade for Jeff Ruland, Cliff Robinson and Roy Hinson, as well as giving up the Number One overall pick. But at least Ruland, Robinson and Hinson played.

And as long as I’m at it, the other professional sports team playing games that count right now deserve a dishonorable mention as well. If the people running the orange-and-black had any brains either, they’d be having the biggest fire sale in the world right now and try to stockpile draft picks in order to rebuild the team (to say nothing of cutting ticket prices).

That’s what the hated Rangers did about 5-6 years ago. And yes, they missed the playoffs a few times, but they’re contending now with a solid core, and we’ll see how far they go, though I’ll admit they’re still long shots (hell, the Islanders are ahead of the Flyers right now – that’s what they did too).

We’ll see what it will take for the “Stepford” sports fans in this city to stop forking over the dough to put asses in the seats and watch all this mess, assuming that ever happens of course…



…turning back to political stuff, I give you more nonsense in “The Breeding Ground for Bad Government,” as The Eternal Molly Ivins once called the “land of the yellow rose”…

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

…and 50 years ago today, a very important Supreme Court ruling was handed down, as noted here (I’ll plan to say more about this later – this was the basis for the terrific TV movie “Gideon’s Trumpet” starring Henry Fonda)…



…and I thought this was a nifty little retro tune.