isiah

For all the public humiliation and piled on conventional wisdom from a media that has no boundaries, it is still crystal clear to me that no matter what the circumstances, Isiah Thomas would not have traded away Zach Randolph...i think Donny Walsh, of Pacers 'fame', is running the show in NYC these days, and it shows, because i believe Walsh traded Jalen, Artest, S. Jackson, and Harrington away for less-valuable players, so without reading much on the details, and just forming an opinion based on the screen-shot i saw of the players exchanged, i would have to conclude that yes, once again, you put a non-athlete in charge of sports decisions, and the result is ever-so predictable...I mean if there is even one shred of logic that the reason to ditch the currently producing Randolph for the possibility of signing someone like LBJ in 2 years, then everyone associated with that decision should be fired...

and they say Isiah didn't know what he was doing...

my answer to all this banter about the Knicks has been, and apparently continues to be: IF4L, or Isiah Fan for Life...you don't build professional sports franchises on decisions that reflect espn.com, and even though it is arguable that the size of the contracts given to some recent Knick players were exorbitant, Isiah was certainly not alone in this behavior...and i am sure if you were given the lay-out of the chess board that he was given, it would not, in the best of your moves and circumstance, look all that different from what he ended up delivering...and yet, i am positive he would not have traded away Zach...

its just amateur hour everywhere you look, and i am sorry if it hurts to look too deeply at the core of the problem, but what else is there to do, but talk about it, is there really a burden too great to bear by talking about what is actually happening in this league that represents tens of billions of dollars, and many thousand livelihoods, as well as the trust of millions of fans?...am i really the one at fault by crying foul when we are expected to be uniform in our opinion even when those opinions fly in the face of all reason, and become a personal challenge that threatens everything we have learned and built our entire lives?...people expect other people to change for their interests, i think exactly the opposite: i have absolutely nothing left to give to you...i am devoid of all effort to make you feel better about why i dont believe the same way you believe...i am not responsible for any part of your life...and until you amend the first amendment of the U.S. Constitution as written, applied, and enforced since 1787, i will not stop...

Isiah Thomas is perhaps the most maligned athlete of our generation, or at least comparable with Bonds, and much more serious than Vick, since i think Vick has admitted to animal cruelty, or whatever they have on him...and his basic offense is living in the Mnhttn media fishbowl, while trying to turn a dying franchise in to a relevant one without any real advantages over other franchises...he made some decisions, he traded some players, signed some others, and substituted and called plays: honestly, please give me a specific instance where it could have been done better, and i will issue an addendum in the comments on this entry...i really am not losing any sleep or holding my breath that that will be required of me...

People will bring-up the CBA and sleeping pills, the Pistons-Bulls rivalry, and the 1992 Olympics, and not what anyone has to say, i stand firm in my conviction that supporting Isiah is a cause worth attending to, if for nothing else to prove that life is deeper, richer, and more diverse than what societal expectations are calling us to attest to...i know this post is not much about basketball, simply because the record of Isiah Thomas is indisputable: NCAA Champion, 2-time NBA Champion, and the only player of his style to have a legitimate case to state his clear superiority to Stockton and Nash...don't worry, i have heard the revisionist theories about how the Pistons were not his team, but really it was Dumars who won those titles...sure, whatever, no one, absolutely no one is buying it, because the human condition fails to see the benefit in believing in lies...

i have long sought the opportunity to give my detailed perspective on Isiah, and though this does not even come close to doing justice to explaining what he has meant to the sport, irrespective of what Michael Jordan would have you believe, i feel that the clear dichotomy of his decisions and non-sporting legend decisions was made today with the Zach Randolph trade...i don't expect the world to agree with me, i cant go back in time and change their upbringing, their education, their attention to detail along the way, but i do expect you to grant me the right to say what i have learned and believed...

until you make a case, that has not already been attempted, and they have all failed, i do not see how the conventional wisdom in full is on shakier ground than in the test-tube case of the career analysis of Isiah Thomas...