Wednesday Thoughts

- Yesterday the Washington Redskins acquired wide receiver James Thrash in a trade with the Philadelphia Eagles, intent on using Thrash the only way he has ever been effective in the NFL… as a secondary target.
When the Philadelphia Eagles signed James Thrash three years ago, he was supposed to solve the teams wide receiver problem. Thrash never did that, mainly because he doesn’t possess the skills of a go-to guy. He is more of a possession receiver and that is the way Joe Gibbs will utilize him in the Redskins offense next year.
With Laveranues Coles, Gibbs has his deep threat, and now with Thrash, Darnerien McCants and Taylor Jacobs behind him, Mark Brunell will have plenty of targets to choose from. I didn’t mention Rod Gardner because I think he becomes expendable with the Thrash signing. Gardner has never shown why Vinny Cerrato made him a 1st round pick and doesn’t have the attitude that Gibbs wants in his players. He also is a prime example of why teams should never draft a receiver in the first round, unless they have the talent level of a Randy Moss.
These are the receivers that were drafted in the 1st round of the 2001 draft: David Terrell, Koren Robinson, Rod Gardner, Santana Moss, Freddie Mitchell and Reggie Wayne. With the possible exception of Moss, these guys have been total busts in their short NFL careers. (I don’t want to hear any complaints from Reggie Wayne fans, if there are any of you out there. With opposing defenses focusing solely on Marvin Harrison, Wayne should easily be catching more than the 68 passes he snagged last year.) A few members of that uninspiring draft class (Terrell, Robinson and Mitchell) have even managed to catch a bad case of Michael Westbrook Syndrome - disappointing years begat off-season hype which begats another disappointing year. It’s an endless, vicious cycle of suckiness.
By the way, among receivers taken in later rounds of the ’01 draft: Chad Johnson, Steve Smith and 2004 free-agent darling Justin McCareins.

- BUD SELIG: MARKETING

a) Chef Boyardee: Fine Dining
b) Kevin Costner: Acting
c) Ted Kennedy: Sobriety
d) Derek Jeter: Masculinity
e) All of the Above

I guess it’s not surprising that the man who publicly called for the contraction of teams a mere 72 hours after the greatest World Series of all-time had another one of his patented brilliant marketing ideas. Opening the baseball season in Japan will go down in history with expanding to Tampa and Miami, keeping the Expos in Montreal and under the control of the other league owners and the infamous All-Star game tie as the most idiotic of Bud Selig’s many idiotic moves as baseball commissioner.
What better way to open the most highly anticipated baseball season in decades by having the opening game take place at 5 a.m. eastern time on a Tuesday. That’s like holding the premiere for Spiderman 2 in the parking lot of a Shoney’s in Wisconsin.

- The main story on ESPN.com for most of Tuesday was Candace Parker’s win in the McDonalds All-American High School dunk contest. If you haven’t heard, Parker, a high-school girl on her way to Tennessee, beat out five guys in a dunk contest at the annual high school all-star game. Sportscenter showed the dunks a dozen times on the 6 p.m. broadcast and has been endlessly hyping the airing of the contest tomorrow night (8:00 p.m., 7:00 central. I feel bad for people in Denver. Mountain Time gets no love).
The dunk also inspired this piece of breathless hyperbole from ESPN.com writer Pete Thamel.

MIDWEST CITY, Okla. -- There are moments, stunning indelible moments, that transcend sport, crumble barriers and create icons.

There's Billie Jean King beating Bobby Riggs at the Astrodome in 1973. Brandi Chastain clinching the Women's World Cup in 1999. Annika Sorenstam teeing off at the Colonial last May.

On Monday night, in a cozy high school gymnasium southeast of Oklahoma City, a 17-year-old high school senior named Candace Parker turned in the latest moment. Parker beat out five male competitors to win the Slam Dunk contest of the McDonald's High School All-American Game.

Amazingly, I think Thamel is serious. Let’s dissect, shall we?
Billie Jean King beat Bobby Riggs head-to-head in a tennis match, which destroyed the belief that women couldn’t compete in athletics. It’s no coincidence that Title IX was instituted a few years later.

	Candace Parker wins the slam dunk contest despite getting less hang-time than Marlon Brando.

Brandi Chastain, and her teammates temporarily captivated the nation by winning a World Cup on American soil. And Annika Sorenstam, after going on a Tiger-like tear through the LPGA, narrowly missed the cut at the Colonial, showing that she could contend with male professionals.
All Candace Parker did was dunk. And pretty poorly to boot. Her victory in the dunk contest isn’t a victory for women’s rights like some commentators are saying. Instead, it’s a pretty neat win in a competition that was no more than a farce.
Have you seen the dunks? She barely can touch the rim. Parker’s “signature” dunk of the night was a rip off of Dee Brown’s dunk in the 1991 NBA version of the same event, except that Parker bailed out halfway through, uncovered her eyes and got her hand no more than three inches over the rim. This contest was rigged worse than an old Iraqi election.
I admit, it’s pretty cool that Parker can dunk. But if Candace Parker were instead named Curtis Parker, she/he would have been booed off the court.
Later on in his ESPN.com article, Thamel speculates that Parker might be the savior that women’s college basketball and the WNBA are looking for. What he fails to realize is that a simple dunk isn’t enough to save either. Candace Parker isn’t the next LeBron James. If she’s lucky, she’ll be the next Sheryl Swoopes. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

- Caution: If you easily get sick to your stomach, avoid the following

Below is a wire story published after Duke's win over Xavier Sunday afternoon.

Chris Duhon grabbed the ball one last time, slowly dribbled up court and watched the final seconds tick off the clock.

He may be hurting, but it sure doesn't show.

With his sore ribs heavily taped, Duhon steered Duke into an all-too-familiar position -- one win from the Final Four -- with a 72-62 victory over Illinois in the Atlanta Regional semifinals Friday night.

This was a performance that epitomized a gritty senior leader, the guy Blue Devils coach Mike Krzyzewski calls as valuable to his team as any player in the country.

Duhon attempted only one shot, but it didn't matter for Duke (30-5). The 6-foot-1 point guard dished out eight assists and kept sneaking inside for rebounds, winding up with a career-high 10. He also spent part of the night guarding Illinois' top scorer, Deron Williams, who managed just seven points on 3-of-13 shooting.

And, with the wrapping on his ribs visible under his jersey, Duhon picked himself off the floor time and time again.

"It feels like I just keep getting stabbed -- over and over and over," he said. "That's just how it is right now."

He may be hurting but it doesn't show? That wuss winces every time he thinks the camera is on him. And doesn't giving an idiotic quote comparing a three-week old rib injury to repeated stabbings qualify as showing that it hurts?
As for Duhon being the most valuable player in the country - if Duhon didn't play, Daniel Ewing could easily step into his shoes and Duke wouldn't miss a beat. But, of course, Duhon will play because he isn't really hurt. He has shown no ill-effects from his "injuries" since the game he received them in.
If Duhon was a real man he'd play basketball and quit complaining. If you're going to play, then play. If your injury is really that bad, then sit out.
Look at B.J. Elder. He hurt his ankle in the regional semi-final and came out of the game. Two days later he tried to play, but could only muster 12 minutes before his ankle gave out.
Yesterday, Elder announced he would play in the National semi-final. The AP released a wire story with the news. Here are some excerpts:

"No doubt," Elder said. "I'm definitely going to be ready [for the Final Four]. It's a lot better. A lot of the soreness is gone...."

"It gets a little stiff at times," Elder said. "But I'm going through a lot of different stretches, things like that. Every day, it's getting better...."

With Georgia Tech making its first Final Four appearance since 1990, Elder is amazed at how much attention everyone is paying to his foot.

"It's kind of funny," he said. "I guess this kind of thing can really get blown up when you make it this far."

Notice the lack of editorial comments about Elder's toughness and value and the absence of any self-serving quotes from the Tech guard. How refreshing.