What's giving you a rash this week?
The out-of-control arrogance in professional sports today? The latest in labor? The price of a lousy stadium hotdog?
An overpaid player? An underhanded agent? An owner who would sell the carpet from underneath his own mother's feet for the right amount of PSLs and luxury boxes?
Where can you get off your chest something boiling inside your belly?
Right here. Right now. Buckshots, a weekly dish-it-out-and-duck feature, is designed to give you, the subscriber, a chance to take your best shot at Ray Buck, national columnist for SportsLine USA.
Agree or disagree, let 'er rip. Sign your name -- if you dare -- and tell us a little about yourself: age, city, state, occupation/student. Just remember, Buck has the last word.
E-mail your comments to buckshots@sportsline.com
E-mails over cocktails, and make mine a triple-double:
"Holy cow! You'd think that players feeding teammates to break records or achieve personal goals is a new thing. In hockey, a player is skating down towards an open net at the end of a game but instead of shooting, he passes to a teammate who scores a hat trick. That's selfless team play.
"In the case of (Orlando reserve) Anthony Bowie, I think the media is persecuting the wrong guy. The disgrace is (Detroit coach) Doug Collins' reaction. You lost! Boo-hoo! Take it like a man and live with it. Maybe this stat-padding was over the line, but who the hell is Doug Collins to be drawing that line?"
BUCKSHOT: Doug Collins paid $5,000 for that privilege. Let him draw. As for your hockey analogy, Stacey, nice try. But there was nothing selfless -- or acceptable -- about the trick Bowie pulled.
"I wonder if Bowie has an incentive clause in his contract? About the time I start to really get interested in a pro sport, something like this crops up and I just shake my head in disgust. The baseball strike comes to mind!
"Players like Anthony Bowie detract from real pros like Cal Ripken. I know I shouldn't even mention their names together ..."
BUCKSHOT: Actually, these two guys have more in common than you might think, Norm. Ripken never misses a ballgame. Bowie never misses an opportunity to rip off a triple-double.
"I coach a senior boys basketball team and play regularly with the local guys," adds Robert, a 33-year-old building supplies salesman. "A natural triple-double is nice, but to call a timeout to get it? No way!"
BUCKSHOT: We checked it out and found that Brian Hill does not have a brain. Actually, he doesn't need one. He has Shaq and Penny.
"And what's getting worse is that the league offices are becoming as hypocritical as the owners and players!"
BUCKSHOT: Protect the children against overexposure to greed, selfishness and poor sportsmanship, Marc. In other words, pro sports today are PG-13 -- and that's on their good days. The morality issues alone can give a kid nightmares.
"I agree with the editorials that question why we even play the national anthem at sporting events ... (and) before we keep patting ourselves on the back about being Americans, I offer one story about the wars we fought for our country. It is about two black GIs preparing to defend America on the beaches of Normandy. Well, they never got the chance because a couple rednecks from the all-white 82nd Airborne gunned them down in the streets of London for speaking to white women.
"I say let the man speak his mind! What America is all about is capitalism above patriotism! Maybe when athletes speak, we need to insert an 'I think' to remind us that it is just someone's opinion, for God's sake.
"The fact that (Abdul-Rauf) makes 30K per game is even more reason for him to speak out. We keep telling these guys they have to be role models, right? Hey, I'm the guy who defended Bryan Cox's right to spit, so I guess that makes me a left winger."
BUCKSHOT: No, that just makes you an idiot.
"I'm not saying the United States is a perfect country or that African-Americans are not discriminated against ... I just think there's a better way for someone to bring attention to his cause."
BUCKSHOT: Mahmoud saw the errors of his way, but not until he pissed off an entire nation. The oppressed, as he quickly found out, were really the outraged. Close, Mahmoud, close.
"Obviously, not.
"Isn't it strange how losing one day's pay ($31,707) -- pay that is tantamount to an average yearly wage for most hard-working Americans -- tends to change the religious opinion of even that most spoiled brat?"
BUCKSHOT: Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf (nee Chris Jackson) did not attend school. He went to LSU.
"If triple-doubles were meant for common players to get, then the game should last for 60 minutes -- or even 80.
"Better yet, maybe they should play for 48 minutes, then anyone who needs more points, rebound, steals, etc., should play for another ten minutes with the ballboys (ballpersons)."
BUCKSHOT: You're thinking, Shawn. But most nights, Anthony Bowie would watch the sunrise and still not have his triple-double. The guy averages 4.2 points, 1.7 rebounds and 1.4 assists per game.
"I don't totally agree with (the NBA's fine) of Collins. But if Collins was so disgusted with Bowie's call, he should've instructed his players to foul Bowie and put him on the line before he could get his (10th) assist."
BUCKSHOT: Possibly in his haste to comprehend this idiotic act, Collins merely figured Bowie would suffer a little remorse after being handed a meaningless triple-double. Not only did it cost Collins five grand, but he gave Bowie far too much credit.
"Thirty-eight points, or a quadruple-double, are individual things that are nice. Once again, this trip-trip and doub-doub stuff is something that the media thinks we need. Sorry. Give me Larry. Give me Magic. (Their) points, assists and rebounds come second -- and quite naturally."
BUCKSHOT: Actually, I think it was Wilt who wrote in his book about a triple-triple he had once.
"And whoever that dork (David Vaughn) was that dunked after Bowie tossed him the ball should also be publicly spanked. If he had any class he would have just held the ball and let the time tick away."
BUCKSHOT: The Dork and The Whinebag. Sounds like a good working title to the book.
BUCKSHOT: If the NBA clamped down on meaningless showboating, pro basketball would be called synchronized swimming.
"My Midwest upbringing frowns on the action ... but reality sets in. For example, why is Michael Jordan not the highest-paid player in the NBA?"
BUCKSHOT: The evil twin of pro sports is the business end. Owners spend stupidly. MJ may be the planet's best player, but that doesn't preclude eight or nine NBA owners from overpaying their team's superstar.
BUCKSHOT: Rod Thorn couldn't have put it better, Texkan.
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