Totally Random
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Hey, there really are Clippers fans out there. They may be disgruntled. OK, they are disgruntled. Well, at least one of them is, and he is calling for the head of Coach Mike Dunleavy.
Bill Simmons, a columnist for ESPN.com, took quite a few shots at Dunleavy during a recent online chat. Simmons is a Clippers season-ticket holder who claims to have attended 11 or 12 games this season. He’s upset about the Clippers’ not “firing” Dunleavy, whom Simmons called a “fraud.”
(Usually a coach is fired by the general manager. But given that Dunleavy is the GM and coach, it’s unlikely that this particular GM would fire himself as coach).
Anyway, Simmons said the Clippers players “hate” Dunleavy, and the fans “hate” Dunleavy. Nice guy that he is, Simmons is willing to let Dunleavy keep his job as GM.
Well, at least Clipper Nation is alive and well.
NBA All-Star snub
If you ask the Cleveland Cavaliers, their point guard, Mo Williams, got snubbed by Eastern Conference coaches who didn’t vote him onto the NBA All-Star team as a reserve.
Williams tried to remain cool about it. But his teammates took care of things for him. You’ve got to love the things Cleveland’s Ben Wallace said about Williams’ absence. “It’s a tragedy,” Wallace told reporters.
Really, a family losing its house is a tragedy -- missing the All-Star team isn’t.
Then there was LeBron James, who was voted onto the All-Star team as a starter. He said the snub of Williams demonstrated how coaches “disrespect” Cleveland. The best comment, though, was from Wallace, who said it was a shame and a mockery and then blended the two words to come up with ‘shamockery.’
Trivia time
How many times was former Lakers great Kareem Abdul-Jabbar selected to the All-Star team?
Mascot-gate
The Boston Celtics mascot, that little gymnastic leprechaun, was either fired or quit. The agent for the former mascot told the Boston Globe that his client, Damon Lee Blust, and the team “mutually agreed to relieve” him of his duties.
Blust would jump, do a flip and dunk a basketball.
Celtics brass called it a private matter.
Either way, the little guy is done.
Trivia answer
Abdul-Jabbar made 19 All-Star teams, the most in NBA history.
And finally
Conan O’Brien on President Obama’s swearing-in ceremony: “During NBC’s coverage, Brian Williams said that the inauguration is like the Super Bowl. Yeah. The only difference is that the New York Jets had a chance to go to the inauguration.”
-- Broderick Turner