February 26^th – March 3^rd

-Lamar Odom Stuck in Purgatory: It’s been a long fall from the top for Lamar Odom over the last couple of seasons. In the summer of 2010, Odom and his fellow Lakers were celebrating their second straight championship. Heading into the next season, despite the formulation of a Miami Heat Mega-Team, the Los Angeles Lakers were still the odds-on favorites. After sputtering down the stretch, riddled with doubts about toughness, the Lakers were summarily bounced from the 2011 playoffs by the Dallas Mavericks in an embarrassing four-game sweep. Before the next season began, with trade rumors running rampant, Odom was sent to the team that had just embarrassed his beloved Lakers (for basically nothing), he got married to the ugly Kardashian, and started starring in his own reality show – as if a professional athlete was ever benefited by MORE attention. This week, after an extended absence due to an undisclosed “personal matter”, Odom was set to come back to the Mavericks, but instead of easing back into the rotation, as per the norm for a 12-year veteran, he was instead assigned to the Texas Legends, a representative from the NBA’s Developmental League (also known as the “not good enough for the NBA” League). Now, as it turned out, Odom skipped that assignment and was called up to play for the Mavericks on Saturday, but even the thought that such a previously well-respected player could be sent to the minors of basketball is shocking. One could make the point that Odom deserves it, as his numbers have declined precipitously this season. Career numbers: 14.4 ppg, 8.7 rpg, 1.0 bpg. 2011-2012 season: 7.7 ppg, 4.5 rpg, .4 bpg. But judging from statements made by his teammates, most are convinced Lamar simply isn’t sold on playing for the Mavericks and, more significantly, no one trusts him. Jason Kidd voiced this lack of trust, adding that, “he's going to have to earn it with a lot of the guys.” Dirk Nowitzki, reigning NBA Finals MVP, expressed similar doubts, even though he was optimistic about Odom's recovery, “If he can play hard every night and be there for us, it'll be OK.” Even head coach Rick Carlisle admitted he doubted Odom’s commitment to the Mavericks, “Our fans, our players want to see the guy playing like his pants are on fire and we haven't seen that so far and that's got to change.” Everyone is justified in saying that what is important is that Odom is playing basketball and trying his hardest. Nothing else, in the long run, really matters. But there is a cloud of bullshit hanging over Odom, which is the real reason he has played so poorly this season, and it's almost all unrelated to basketball. Odom had spent seven full seasons in Los Angeles. He won two titles there. He met and married his wife there. He lives there. At the beginning of this season, when LA was blatantly shopping everyone on the roster not-named Kobe Bryant to try and lure Chris Paul or Dwight Howard to Lakerland, there is no doubt Odom felt disrespected. With his consistent play and the publicity he gets from his super-famous wife, Odom must have thought he had earned some loyalty from the Laker brass. But even if Odom marries the Queen of England, he will never have the clout of a Kobe Bryant, who earned his respect with a constant barrage of near superhuman performances ON THE BASKETBALL COURT. That’s all that matters in the NBA. Trades are a reality of the business and you can't take it personally. Odom was probably miffed that he was being kicked out of Los Angeles (where the Kardashians reign supreme), but he lost sight of the fact that the NBA cares not for your personal life. NBA players live a charmed life, with every need and whim catered to, and they receive inexplicable amounts of money to play a game where you toss a ball through a metal circle. The only thing the NBA and the fans ask in return is focus enough that you display your inconceivable natural talents and at least appear to be trying hard. Sports fans, if nothing else, can spot a phony. It’s obvious when a player is mailing it in. Odom’s numbers speak for themselves. It can be argued that Odom is in a new system, playing erratic minutes, on forward-dominated team; but his actual decline appears to be from pouting over the way he was disowned in LA. He just doesn't want to be in Dallas, period. Unfortunately, he better realize that Dallas has a similar plan in store for him. Mark Cuban, in a savvy, practical bit of roster management, chose to let his star center, Tyson Chandler, go after winning a championship last year. The plan was to load up on one-year contracts for the Lockout-shortened season, thus making plenty of salary space available to lure Dwight Howard or Deron Williams to Dallas once their contracts expire at the end of the season. Odom, along with Vince Carter, were temporary roster additions to get through this season. None of this has been laid out explicitly, in that Cuban would never outright say that he plans to dump Odom’s carcass before next season, but there’s no doubt that will be the case if Odom continues to play like a spoiled seven year old angry he didn’t get his way. I’ll say it again, because it bears repeating: Odom is paid to play basketball. Nothing else is any of his concern. So he can either get back on the wagon and squeeze what production he can out of the rest of his career, or he can fade into the background, latching onto the fame of his wife. Regardless, the NBA will go on without him. That’s the cold, hard truth he needs to square himself with.

-Saints Play the Bounty Game: This week, the Saints were exposed for running a bounty program, whereby defensive players were given cash incentives for big hits or injuring an opposing player. While the program wasn’t entirely novel or unique, the way each coach and player owned up to it was. Top to bottom, the entire Saints organization was willing to admit the program was in place and describe exactly how it worked. It is never clear how sports stories are leaked, as reporters don’t have to reveal their sources, but it’s always interesting to see how people respond to private affairs being dumped into the public eye. This bounty program supposedly was just an in-house competition, with money supplied by the players themselves, to award people for exceptional defensive plays. It was closer to an office pool that an actual organizational program. Some teams in the past have been caught giving similar cash incentives for snatching interceptions or recovering fumbles. The Saints’ bounty program was a little more malicious, as it was based on injuries, but the uproar over this “viciousness” is mostly naïve. Football is a game predicated on violence. Every play, every player is trying to hurt someone or at least knock someone on their ass. People celebrate sacks, when the franchise quarterback is finally thrown to the dirt, more than they do touchdowns nowadays. Coaches, from all levels (PeeWees on up), can routinely be heard demanding extreme actions, like: “Kill Them!”, “Destroy Them!”, or “Attack! Attack! Attack!” Is there something worse about the Saints because they attached a private money pool to motivate themselves towards the things they were going to do anyway? Where is the proof this bounty program led to more injuries? People act as if, without the bounty program, the Saints would have floated around like a bunch of fairies, playing two-hand touch. The NFL breeds killers: amazing physical specimens with little to no education, satisfied by nothing but inflicting pain upon people in different colored jerseys. But the second you monetize that scenario, the NFL has a conniption fit? I guess the millions of dollars the owners pay these defensive players isn’t incentive enough to go out and brutally attack other people on the football field. Oh wait, yes it is. The entire NFL is a bounty program. Get real.