Gilbertology 101: Why this Injury Isn’t the return of the Curse O’ Les Boulez

by Dax-Devlon Ross

Despite Michael Wilbon’s wild proclamations to the contrary even with a healthy Caron Butler and Gilbert Arenas the Wizards weren’t going to win the Eastern Conference title, let alone the NBA crown. They weren’t. As fantabulous as they are when they’re on, they, and their superstar playmaker Gilbert Arenas, are still a low-post presence away from seriously contending. That gaping hole inside aside, the Wizards have proven, during stretches at least, that they can play with and beat anyone in the league. They have three bonafide stars, three strong role players who will rise to the occasion over the next few weeks (Stevenson, Hayes and Daniels), and two of toughest, roughest garbage players in the conference (Ruffin and Etan Thomas). What they haven’t proven, and the primary reason Miami has been able to catch them after a sluggish start and with their superstar sidelined, is that they can – to quote eminently quotable Charles Barkely – “impose their will” on upper-crust teams in any consistent manner, Wilbon’s arguably valid point about the Pistons notwithstanding. At best, this Wizards team would’ve made it to the second round. At best.

To read the rest visit the new sports blog The Starting Five

The Starting Five is Live!!!

by Dax-Devlon Ross

I’m pleased to announce that I’m entering into an exciting ambition blog style with four other very talented writers.The Starting Five

This is from our about page:

The Starting Five (TSF) intends to cause a ruckus in the most honorable way. Our collective goal is to provide sports fans with an alternative to the popular Internet sports readings of the day.

We are scrupulous in our reporting of sports-related topics and subject matter; we source actual people; we reference actual publications. We relate the truth as it finds us, not as we want it to be.

Some days TSF will raise eyebrows. Some days TSF will anger many people, but inform more. But most importantly, we of TSF will be relentless in our pursuit of knowledge about the games about which we write and equally relentless in our pursuit of the truth about the people in and around the games, sports, and leagues we love.

Welcome to The Starting Five.

the HNIC Report will continue to operate as a political commentary blog but from here on out all of my sports writing will appear on TSF

Best,

Dax-Devlon Ross

Quote of the Day

by Dax-Devlon Ross

 

 “We were always playing on the white man’s court, Ray told me, by the white man’s rules. If the principal, or the coach, or a teacher, or Kurt, wanted to spit in your face, he could, because he had power and you didn’t. If he decided not to, if he treated you like a man or came to your defense, it was because he knew that the words you spoke, the clothes you wore, the books you read, your ambitions and desires, were already his. Whatever he decided to do, it was his decision to make, not yours, and because of that fundamental power he held over you, because it preceded and would outlast his individual motives and inclinations, any distinction between good and bad whites held negligible meaning. In fact, you couldn’t even be sure that everything you had assumed to be an expression of your black, unfettered self— the humor, the song, the behind-the-back pass— had been freely chosen by you. At best, these things were a refuge; at worst, a trap. Following this maddening logic, the only thing you could choose as your own was withdrawal into a smaller and smaller coil of rage, until being black meant only the knowledge of your own powerlessness, of your own defeat. And the final irony: Should you refuse this defeat and lash out at your captors, they would have another name for that, too, a name that could cage you just as good. Paranoid. Militant. Violent. Nigger.”

Senator Barack Obama, from Dreams of My Father