BUCKSHOTS

Who's giving you a rash this week? Overpaid player? Underhanded agent? Obnoxious team owner? Some other sports wretch? Well, take your best shot. Sign your name, if you dare.

Just remember, Ray Buck, CBS SportsLine national columnist, has the last word. E-mail your comments to: rbuck@sportsline.com

Rockets run their mouths better than they run the floor


By Ray Buck
CBS SportsLine National Columnist
May 29, 1997

E-mails over cocktails, while we wait to see if this is going to be Last Call for Sir Charles.

Charles Barkley and the Houston Rockets have been sent packing to the CBS SportsLine Whine Cellar for calling the Utah Jazz a dirty team. Rather than run any kind of an effective offense away from Hakeem Olajuwon in the low post, the Rockets were content to run their mouths.

Now you have your opinions, too, and you gave them to us loud and clear.

Here -- in your own words -- you tell us whether Barkley's earlier complaints about John Stockton and moving picks did any good or not. And you told us what you think about Barkley's self-proclaimed intention to "separate a shoulder or break a rib" since the refs weren't calling Stockton for those alleged illegal picks.

Valid points or sour grapes? Here's what you had to say:

"YOUR THOUGHTS ABOUT BARKLEY SEEM appropriate for The Whine Cellar," writes Julie Fortier. "Perhaps his new TV commercial will find him recanting his behavior:

"To whine before it's time is ... uncivilized."

BUCKSHOT: In the case of The Chuckster, who still doesn't have an NBA championship ring, time is quickly running out. That's becoming unmentionable.

"THE HOUSTON ROCKETS ARE NOTHING but an overpaid bunch of whiney butts who are just about washed up," contends Roland and Victoria Palmer. "It looks, to me, like they're not in shape.

"By the time the fourth quarter rolls around, they are all bent over gasping for air, while the Jazz are making them look old."

BUCKSHOT: They shouldn't be tired. All they do is stand around and watch Hakeem.

"YOU'RE AN IDIOT, RAY!" (signed) Clutch.

BUCKSHOT: Who gave you your impressive nickname? I mean other than you.

"PUTTING IN MY TWO CENTS WORTH: I have to side with Houston and say that Utah is a dirty playing team. Stockton does set many illegal picks, and (Karl) Malone is the flop master," e-mails Shanon Fernald.

"Actually, both teams are whining, but the Rockets are more obvious since they are down (in the series). I guess that's the new NBA: whine 'til you win a championship."

BUCKSHOT: And then it works only if you have Michael Jordan on your team.

"LOOK, RAY, EVERY TEAM HAS their ups and downs," points out Rebecca J. Mukadam. "They are not all perfect but you don't know these guys.

"If Houston would have been on the winning side, the Jazz would have been crying, and you know it. No, wait, Malone would have started falling down everywhere like he always does, hoping to stick a fake foul on someone.

"You must be a Yank because the northern media types have never given the Rockets the credit they deserved when we were world champions, and you know it."

BUCKSHOT: I know I worked in Houston for 15 years. Hope my bias doesn't come through in my writing.

"I AGREE. TOO MUCH WHINING, too little focus, too many players looking for excuses to lose," writes Barry O'Dwyer. "I used to enjoy your column in the Houston Post."

BUCKSHOT: Thanks! Now for a moment of silence for The Houston Post, which died between Rocket championships in April 1995.

"RAY BUCK IS A FOOL if he thinks that the Utah Jazz aren't a cheap-shot team," argues Bill Barton. "All he needs to do is watch Stockton on a couple of plays and see how many swipes he takes."

BUCKSHOT: What this fool sees are a lot of points and assists.

"BAWLING BARKLEY WILL NEVER win a championship," predicts Nina Olinger. "He brings to Houston the same attitude that he purposely developed throughout his entire life. He wants to blame everyone but himself.

"Look inside yourself first, Charles!"

BUCKSHOT: What? And lose his right to be a 1990s professional athlete?

"YOU'RE RIGHT ON. THE JAZZ WHINED about Houston two years ago when they were knocked out of the playoffs," recalls SLC, MVP. "There was a lot of talk about Hakeem's nice three-step jump hook in the lane. But the refs never call that, either.

"This time the Jazz aren't complaining ... and that's the sign of a team that's winning."

BUCKSHOT: Actually, Jazz fans want "walking" called every time Hakeem makes a move to the basket. They got their wish in Game 5 -- once. Remember, this is the NBA, where there are two things you'll never see: discounted playoff tickets and traveling called on superstars.

"STICKS AND STONES (AND NBA PICKS) may break a few of our bones. Name callin' has landed the Rockets some pine time in The Cellar," pens a poetic Tom "Texkan" Sargent of Virginia.

"Oh, shutup, Houston! And quit crying so much baloney!"

BUCKSHOT: Cold cuts by Stockton are what the Rockets are crying about, Texkan.

"HAKEEM OLAJUWON IS THE MOST morally upright person -- perhaps in America -- and a man who would not unrightfully make public accusations toward a fellow human being," comes this e-mail from "RIITANO."

"If he did so, he would have to answer to Allah, and he will always keep his soul clean before Allah. The obvious deduction here is that Malone is a 'bad guy'"

BUCKSHOT: Olajuwon translates into "always being on top" in his native tongue. We researched it, but couldn't find the word for "conclusion jumping" to fit the rest of your argument.

"YOU CAN'T SAY THE ROCKETS DO NOT have a legit point," says Ben Shepherd. "The Rockets' problem is that the pansies can't play through it for some strange reason.

"Everyone knows that while all are fine players, Malone, Stockton and (Jeff) Hornacek are three of the dirtiest players in the league. It just rarely shows until game film is dissected."

BUCKSHOT: It's only dirty when you get caught.

"NOW THAT STRUGGLING HOUSTON has decided to elevate its level of whining beyond the usual press conference forum to include specially produced videos of Stockton which are over-nighted to league headquarters on the eve of Game 3 of the Western Conference Final, perhaps it's time for the Jazz to compile its own documentary highlighting Hakeem, a guy who doesn't hesitate to take full advantage of what appears to be a lifetime travel(ing) pass, and whose elbows are not regarded as dirty when, to cite only one example, they are thrown into Mr. Carr's head after a foul during Wednesday's game."

Regards, David J. Smith

BUCKSHOT: David, take a breath!

"THE ROCKETS ARE JUST GETTING THUMPED, and have no excuse to be running their mouths," writes John Hamilton of Bossier City, La. "Just imagine if the Rockets were made to play in the Eastern Conference, where it's almost twice as brutal."

BUCKSHOT: You mean twice as brutal to watch.

"DIRTY? THE JAZZ? THE ROCKETS don't know how to solve Utah's switching defense," opines T.R. Ellis. "Wasn't it Sir Charles who mouthed the words, 'f--- you' to the home crowd under the basket while he shot free throws?

"Then, when he missed the second (free) throw and the crowd really got on him, that's when he body slammed Stockton twice within 30 seconds. Let's face it, Sir Charles and the Rockets are much better at complaining than playing."

BUCKSHOT: Barkley brings an added dimension to Houston. The once "Round Mound of Rebound" has a mouth to match.

AS YOU NOTED, THIS IS Barkley's second time in as many years to land in The Whine Cellar, but he also used the tactic to get out of Philly," recalls Jerry Williams "Although he complained about being shopped around like a piece of meat last year, you never heard him complaining that Hornacek and others were traded to Philly a few years ago for him.

"Apparently this is a one way street. Either he gets his way or he thinks he is being picked on."

BUCKSHOT: Your memory is good. Traded from Philly to Phoenix in June 1992 for Hornacek, Tim Perry and Andrew Lang . . . Barkley is still in search of utopia and a ring.

"IT'S TIME FOR THE ROCKETS to put up or shut up," writes David Hall. "Stockton and Malone, between them, have missed about half a dozen games in their whole careers. They know how to play like men. They accept the punishment and keep on playing.

"Perhaps the Rockets could learn a lesson from that."

BUCKSHOT: Actually Stockton and Malone -- combined -- have missed only eight games (four apiece) in 25 seasons. Wimps!

THE ROCKETS ARE IN NEED OF some Brie to go with their Whine," suggests an obviously well-intentioned Jayson D. Uffens. "I mean, how often does Hakeem take an extra hop-skip-jump or switch pivot foots on his way to the basket?"

BUCKSHOT: Only when he has the basketball.

"LOVE YA, ROCKETS! I AM AN AVID Rockets fan and I don't like to see them make so many comments," admits Jennifer Martin. "I'd rather that they put their frustration into action on the court. "They need to get all positions active in the game and not completely rely on Hakeem to do all the scoring. If the Rockets would stick to their game plan and not get so caught up in the officiating, they'd be successful."

BUCKSHOT: Jennifer Martin? Sound more like Rudy T.

"BY READING YOUR COLUMN, you must be a devoted and a hard core Jazz fan," says Richard Staley. "The Rockets just want to play fair basketball,"

BUCKSHOT: Or just play -- period.

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