and how that speed demon glows on the track but is a rather dull person (off the track). He is, however, a work in progress, thanks to the stable of tub thumpers, promoters and image makers hired to make him the 'Michael Jordan of track and field.'
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
"You (former) Houston journalists always were jealous. Houston is a much nicer place to live than the Metroplex; you shouldn't have such an inferiority complex.
"Have a nice day!"
BUCKSHOT: Do I detect a little sarcasm? Careful, Marc. It detracts from your paranoia.
"Aren't all sports stars above the law? Steve Howe gets seven chances. Various big shots pound on their wives. Others peddle and/or use dope, and on and on. Why the hell can't we just get rid of these jerks with their over-inflated egos, and get back where sports are reported more on the sports page than on the crime and financial pages?
"Another beef I have is that sports unions should stop damaging the image of real unions and start calling themselves something else. How about 'Greedy Jocks United?' In real unions, (members) don't negotiate their own salary."
BUCKSHOT: And they don't allow a lightweight like Donald Fehr wreak havoc with their livelihood.
"And Thomas Muster ... there's a one-surface player. If he wants to be considered a true champion, he must not only play well on all surfaces but win some Grand Slam titles other than the French Open. He needs to stop whimpering."
BUCKSHOT: Muster suddenly withdrew from Wimbledon when his seeding came up No. 7. If he had shown up and won one match, he'd be sitting No. 4 right now.
"Do we feel sorry for these so-called sports heroes? Or do we feel sorry for the thousands of fans that follow them?"
BUCKSHOT: In Deion's case, we should feel sorry for the fish. He looked hungry.
ever done to warrant appointing him CEO of the Reds?" asks Mike Marston, a 34-year-old entrepreneur from Baltimore. "Great baseball player ... (but) hell, he couldn't even manage a baseball team let alone run one.
"When he managed the O's, he used to fall asleep in the dugout during games. They have the TV footage! My question is if he can't stay awake during a ball game, how can he run a franchise?
"Jesse Jackson is another joke. He can't stay away from the media. Fairness in athletics has not been achieved ... it's more like how much money am I getting? Maybe they should come up with a Rainbow Commission on Fairness in Athletics for the fans."
BUCKSHOT: The Orioles are putting a lot of us asleep this year.
A BIG, FAT IDIOT!" bristles John White, Jr., a 30-year-old inventory coordinator from Marshfield, Wis. "The article on Bud Selig was stupid.
"Ratto tries to make Selig out to be the bad guy when, in fact, he's trying and trying to keep baseball in Wisconsin. Imagine what it's like to have to deal with all the politics involved in building a new stadium, which ultimately will be two-thirds funded by the public?
"Selig has been fighting for (major league) revenue-sharing for six years. Now it's too late to save his own franchise. In my book, Bud Selig is a hero. People of Wisconsin will not let baseball leave the state, although I don't know why (we bother). It's turned into a worthless sport that's only purpose is to keep people like Ray Ratto employed!"
BUCKSHOT: Sticks and stones can break Ratto's bones. But being told that his career is in the hands of baseball is going to push him off the Golden Gate Bridge.
"I like the Michael Johnson column, and how that speed demon glows on the track but is a rather dull person (off the track). He is, however, a work in progress, thanks to the stable of tub thumpers, promoters and image makers hired to make him the 'Michael Jordan of track and field.'
"Frankly, I think Dan O'Brien, the decathlon star, has a better chance of breaking out of the pack and gaining public prominence. I saw O'Brien (at the Olympic Trials). He's handsome and very well-spoken. Speaks extemporaneously in paragraphs. Michael Jordan can't do that."
BUCKSHOT: You're right, Ernest. MJ prefers his paragraphs scripted, by one of the Madison Avenue ad agencies.
"Fritz (who made the U.S. team as the runner-up to Dan O'Brien at the Olympic Trails) scored the third-best decathlon total in history. Do the East Coast and West Coast media think Kansas athletes are mystically involved with Oz and all that?"
BUCKSHOT: Naw, Dole has replaced Dorothy as the Kansas state symbol in most of our minds.
it's obvious you're just a slack-jawed little rat from Philly," e-mails Elliot Sellers, a 24-year-old paralegal from Marshall, Minn. "You're so blindly jealous of the World Champion Dallas Cowboys that you have to put something -- anything -- derogatory in every one of your little articles?
"For example, 'Don't count on Irvin catching many passes for you this year, Jerry?' What??? Are you so insanely jealous that you actually think Michael Irvin is going to sit a day in jail? I guess it's easier to run down (the Cowboys) than to actually beat them.
"So go ahead and keep writing your sour-grapes columns. But by the way, how is it that Brian Blades didn't get a 'jeer' in your last column? How about the sitting judge? Bam Morris? Quentin Coryatt? The Rams and Lawrence Phillips? The Pats and Christian Peter?
"Emmitt Smith graduating from college?"
BUCKSHOT: OK, Elliot, I see the connection. To get his diploma, Emmitt was asked, "What comes at the end of a sentence," and before he could answer, Michael shouted from the back of the room, "An appeal."
"I was disgusted at first when the Steelers did not sign him (prior to the '95 season) but looking back, I now realize that Bill Cowher is one of the best judges of talent and character. And I'm sure that if Jimmy Johnson can swing it, he will dump Green and that bum (agent) Drew Rosenhaus in a second."
BUCKSHOT: I think JJ can swing it. Keith Byars already is working out at tight end.
objects Brian Hanrahan, a 24-year-old actuary from Cincinnati.
"Well, I haven't seen Minnesota trying to get rid of Moon, Cincinnati of Big Daddy Wilkinson, Dallas of Irvin or (Erik) Williams, Seattle of Blades. Come on, this isn't a league of angels. Is this the first time an NFL player has ever been accused of a DUI?
"The Rams drafted Lawrence Phillips because he was the best player in the draft -- hands down. They drafted him because they don't care how much the press blasts them for the pick. They drafted him because the Jets, Ravens and Jaguars didn't have the guts."
BUCKSHOT: Lawrence Phillips has God-given talent and now he has Robert Shapiro, the best legal defense money can buy.
writes Jackson Dyrle, address unknown. "What makes Jordan the best of all time? He's not even the best in any one category of your top 10: scoring (Chamberlain), rebounding (Russell), clutch performance (West), defense (Russell, Olajuwon, Chamberlain -- take your choice), assists (Johnson), and what they've done for the NBA (Johnson, Bird).
"What is with Olajuwon being ninth? Why is John Stockton and Pistol Pete so low? What's up with McHale being left off? Who the bleep-bleep is Dolph Schayes? You could've moved Karl Malone up on the list . ..."
BUCKSHOT: Other than that, I see you're wild about our list.
"Perhaps white men can't jump -- though if you ever saw volleyball, you'd disagree -- but Jabbar was, without a doubt, the poorest rebounder, inch for inch, who ever played pro ball."
BUCKSHOT: Criticism a bit too harsh. While rebounding was not Jabbar's forte, he averaged 11.2 boards per game during a league-record 1,560 games over 20 seasons. No one -- not even Dennis Rodman -- has had a career that can compare, carom for carom, to Wilt Chamberlain (22.9 rpg while leading the NBA 11 of his 14 seasons) or Bill Russell (22.5 rpg, four NBA rebounding titles). While Jabbar (in large part due to his longevity) finished his career No. 3 in career rebounds behind Wilt and Russell, he must also take a backseat on the boards to Elvin Hayes, Moses Malone, Nate Thurmond and -- wait, I remember! -- Jerry Lucas.
"One player whom I definitely believe you missed is Sidney Moncrief, who played with the Milwaukee Bucks. This is a huge oversight, especially considering Dennis Rodman made your list. Jeese! Check out Moncrief's career stats."
BUCKSHOT: Moncrief, a five-time All-Star, averaged 15.6 ppg and 4.7 rpg over 11 NBA seasons. I can take him -- or leave him.
"Magic, as a point guard, was supposed to do most of the things he did, whereas Larry wasn't supposed to be able to most of the things he ended up doing. Even though Magic has more (championship) rings than Bird, Larry did more for the game.
"Also, Magic loses points for unretiring so many times."
BUCKSHOT: You're from Boston? You could've fooled me.
"Greatest team of all time? I don't think so, Michael. Check out the Bulls' schedule and see how many sub-.500 teams they had the opportunity to beat up on. This team rates with the undefeated '72 Miami Dolphins who, I think, beat two whole teams with winning records that year.
"And I don't remember Larry Csonka or Bob Griese complaining to the refs."
BUCKSHOT: Csonka obviously didn't have the refs snowed. One time he was flagged for "unnecessary roughness" -- while carrying the football.
with earlier championship teams is very mute (sic) and pointless. Any sportswriter worth his or her salt would stop this meaningless debate even before it starts.
"The Bulls had too much experience. So, please, stop this meaningless debate and rather not write if you have none better to do."
BUCKSHOT: OK, you win, we're done talking about the Bulls. We're mute.
"Yet when the Avalanche won the Stanley Cup, you failed to point out how many Americans played on that team. If I'm not mistaken, the Avalanche had more Canadians than most NHL teams -- even those in Canada.
"Does this show that the Avalanche is not really an American team? Maybe you should ask the people in Quebec City."
BUCKSHOT: Actually, Dave, we're recommending that all professional sports leagues include in their daily box scores a "nationality count." To keep it simple, we suggest two categories: "Us" and "Them."
in exchange for so many good players he has gotten rid of here," says Brent Hobgood, a 30-year-old local government administrator from St. Louis.
"I guess we'll all be on pins and needles waiting to see if the Blues can retain the services of Wayne Gretzky. I hope they can, and would think they'd be pretty devastated if they are not able to work a deal. I've heard others say that the salary for No. 99 could be better spent on getting players like (Jeremy) Roenick and (Pat) Verbeek, but I don't think we'd really get that opportunity.
"It's too bad Gretzky's relationship with Keenan turned sour. Even if the Blues save $7 million a year in dumping (Gretzky's) salary, they're without their major box-office draw, center and captain ... with no substantial trade possibilities. Things would start to smell bad pretty quick."
BUCKSHOT: Whatever happened to that old sports adage that "a superstar puts fannies in the seats, the coach can only get his own kicked out the door?"
on SportsLine," writes Mark Adams, 32, who works for a sports marketing company in Jakarta, Indonesia. "However, I'm disappointed that she has fallen into the same trap as every other golf writer in the U.S.
"Davis Love is not the best player never to have won a major. Colin Montgomerie is. Monty has won all over the world, including three Euro Tour money titles in a row. He's No. 2 in the Sony rankings and has lost in two major playoffs.
"I'm willing to bet anyone that Montgomerie wins a major before Love. Thank you for the opportunity to share my humble opinion."
BUCKSHOT: You're on! If Love wins a major before Montgomerie, you owe me five bucks. If Montgomerie wins a major before Love, I'll phone Melanie on your behalf -- and collect.
It lacks creativity or an understanding of what it means to be aesthetically-pleasing to the naked eye," writes Ken "The Critic" Breslow.
"Looks like some toy insignia plastered on the side of a helmet."
BUCKSHOT: That's actually the letter "B" emblazoned across a raven-winged crest. But I thought the tiny print at the bottom -- Lighten Up, Cleveland -- was a bit tacky.