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OK, I'm not an NBA fan. Really haven't been since the Showtime Lakers and basically stopped watching after Michael Jordan left the Bulls. But in looking at ESPN 980's website, this article caught my eye. Can someone explain to me how players can be nominated as All Stars when the season is only 10% over?

One of the few things I remember about the NBA is that the season is 82 games long. As of this morning, the Wizards are 2-6. 8 games into the season, they have a losing record and Arenas, Jamison, and Butler are nominated to the All Star Game?

I don't discredit them for their talent. I discredit them for their relative talent to the rest of the league. Especially Gilbert Arenas. The former Agent Zero was less than zero last season because he was injured most of it. So on this short 8 game losing season, he gets nominated? WTF? I enjoy a good All Star Game or Pro Bowl, but leagues need to do one of 2 things. Either nominate on merit, or just assign players for the best game/entertainment value. I'm not sure the NBA has accomplished that here.

Remember way back when, like almost 20 years ago, when the Redskins last won a Superbowl? Then a series of events occurred that was going to bring sports championships (plural is intentional).

1. Wizards being declared a team to be reckoned with.
2. Capitals make it to the Stanley Cup Finals.
3. Baseball returns to Washington.
4. Redskins sign/hire Spurrier, Gibbs, Haynesworth, Campbell

In Pardon the Interruption style, Toss Up, though we'll change it up a bit and give you a few choices. I get the feeling I already know the answer.

Raise your hand if you knew the Washington Wizards signed their new coach this week. Hello, is anyone out there? OK, can you name the interim coach from the 08-09 season? Did you know Washington has a NBA team?

The Wizards signed Flip Saunders to guide the team for the next four years. Saunders has previously coached the Minnesota Timberwolves and Detroit Pistons, leading both teams on playoff runs. Since the coaching days of Wes Unseld ending in 1994, the past 15 years has produced 11 head coaches of varying degrees of success. Bernie Bickerstaff, Gar Heard, and Leonard Hamilton all failed to lead the team to championships. The "best" of the herd might have been Doug Collins and Eddie Jordan. Jordan was fired after a dismal start of the 08-09 campaign where he didn't have 3 of his best players to start the season.

Saunders will be tasked to bring this team back to prominence. At best, the 3rd favorite team in the DC area behind the Redskins and the crowd pleasing Capitals, has in the past advertised games by featuring the opponents coming in to town. How about a winning coach and a winning team? Victories seem to cure all ills.

OF Elijah Dukes troubled past has been well documented. The Nationals informed him from the onset that there'd be a zero tolerance policy regarding personal and team issues. Dukes has his own personal entourage that works with him and sponsored by the Nationals to help mentor him. While donning the Nationals uniform, Dukes has avoided much of the causes for so many problems in his past.

A look into the music selection may provide some insight into Dukes' personality as he chose the song Its My Birthday. There's no doubt that he chose a fun loving song that everyone can enjoy but it's also a song that can reach a deep accord about one's own reflections about themselves. Had he chosen a more self deprecating song like "Breaking the Law" it would have also filled the same playful and humorous tone showing that he can make fun of himself rather than a song informing fans to look at him.

In the depths of March Madness, we might forget that there is another brand of basketball still being played. In this here town too. They are called the Washington Wizards. They play in this league called the National Basketball Association. Yeah, I'm surprised too, I thought this NBA thing didn't start until April or May and only involved 16 teams playing the same opponent for best of 5 or 7 series.

So looking down the roster, i recognize some names.

Gilbert Arenas - isn't he that guy who writes the great blog?
Caron Butler - I remember him from UConn. Boo!
Juan Dixon - now here's a player I know. Terrapin great. Helped Maryland win it's first national championsihp.
Brendan Haywood - hated NC Tarheel. Boo!
Antwan Jamison - see Haywood, Brendan
Darius Songala - he played somewhere in the ACC right? Not Maryland though.
Nick Young & Etan Thomas - sound familar, but I don't know who these characters are.

Then the rest I have no clue. Andray Blatche, Javaris Crittenton, Mike James, JaVale McGee, Dominic McGuire, Olesksly Pecherov, and DeShawn Stevenson. Really, can someone tell me who these are?

Is that Jordan guy still playing for the team? How about Chris Webber or Juwan Howard?

One of the best writers in sports, Bill Simmons aka The Sports Guy, has a thoroughly entertaining and insightful podcast. On the 12/10/08 podcast, Bill Simmons talked with David Stern as he celebrates his 25th Anniversary as Commissioner of the NBA. Bill discussed several topics during the near hour long conversation and asked a variety of questions, but one of the more intriguing was asking Stern who some of his favorite owners over his 25 years in the NBA and why he would cite them as a favorite or model owner. Sure enough Abe Pollin of the Washington Wizards made Stern's top three favorite owners. He was an owner before Stern even became commissioner The BS Report.

Who would have thought that Abe, aka "where's the cake", the man that crossed words with Michael Jordan during a labor agreement dispute, the owner that hired and fired Michael Jordan, and the owner that won a title in the late 1970s and is still waiting for his next championship would make such distinctive and honorable list? Abe is a great humanitarian. His kindness and generosity are well known and documented. He also chose to move the team back to the city at a personal cost of his own pocket for the betterment of the community to revitalize the area. Abe is in poor health and may not see another title, but his generosity and goodwill will live on in the community. It’s good to see Abe is revered and held in such high esteem by Stern.

The Top 5 Reasons the Wizards fired Eddie Jordan:

#5 To Receive the Caps Lucky Karma:

The Caps have bungled countless decisions only to be bailed out by the greatest luck in sports in the area. They fired a coach early in the season last year without any real plan and it’s seemed to work out well.

Let’s recap –
• The Caps replace Wilson with an unproven minor league coach who alienated players and confounded fans. The Caps let go of all talent and receive little back in return to go from division winners to bottom dwellers to purge payroll due to the impending salary cap. It sounds eerily familiar to Casserly’s panic stricken purge for the Skins. Both led to the decline of the franchise.

• The Caps hopes lay upon a ping pong ball. The odds are long and thin to win the first pick. Not coming up with a franchise player like Ovechkin could prolong the poor team assembled and long on talent to perennial losers. As the ball bounced, Ovechkin became a Capital. The Caps replaced one minor league coach with another and then fired Hanlon during the season with no real plan and turned to the third consecutive minor league coach. Who really knows if Bruce would have been the first choice at the end of the year, but appears to be the right choice now.

#4 To Keep Up With the Jones’:

• PJ Carlesimo was fired from the Oklahoma City Thunder after going 1-12. Wait! The NBA is in Oklahoma City? Are you sure it’s not an Arena Football League team? It’s stylish to fire a coach early this year. Look at NFL teams this season.

#3 Everyone Else in Town Has Changed Coaches:

• Every other professional sports team has had coaching changes the past couple of years. Of all the professional teams in the area, Jordan had the longest tenure as a head coach. Jordan can now pursue other endeavors such as his dancing career. No, that was Jason Taylor. Ok, maybe it was his music career. No, wait that was Lastings Milledge. Ok, it must be to pursue other winning opportunities.

#2 To send a Message to Players and Coaches:

• The Wizards want to start a trend in sports that bad auto dealership commercials will not be tolerated.

The Washington Wizards did what people have been asking for yearsdays. When will Ernie Grunfeld fire Eddie Jordan. That day has finally come. After a 1-10 start, the team had enough. The big question is, was it really Jordan's fault?

The Wizards have played this season so far without star Gilbert Arenas and has also missed the work of Brendan Haywood. The great coaches motivate their team to wins when injuries go down. Last season the Wizards were also without Arenas for large parts of the end of the season, yet still made the playoffs. I'm wondering how 11 games in on a 82-game season is really enough to decide. But Jordan was coach before Grunfeld took over the team. That along with not getting out of the first round in recent years didn't help.

It's interesting that the Wizards make this move about a year after the Capitals fired their coach and promoted Bruce Boudreau. The Wiz looking for some Captial Magic? I don't know if Ed Tapscott, interim Wizards coach, has the powers in him.

Kevin Duckworth, former Washington Bullet, passed away on Monday in Oregon. Known around these parts as "Double-O" or "The Big O" for his jersey number, 00, played for the Bullets before the team changed the name to Wizards from 1993-1995. His short stint didn't leave much a mark on the Washington Basketball team, but as a former NBA All-Star, he brought some light to a franchise plagued with bad decsions. He was toward the end of his career playing here, so nothing was gained.

Recently, we was working with the Portland Trailblazers, his first NBA team, in promotion and holding basketball clinics.

The Wizards defeated the Heat at home 96-74 in a laugher Saturday night at the Verizon Center. The Wizards took advantage of the injury plagued Heat playing without Shaq and Jason Williams. Rightfully so the Wizards rolled up the score on Miami to run the record to 15-14. The team oriented offense and concept was run to perfection. It became sloppy towards the end when the game became nothing but jump shots, but the W in the record books was the important thing. To be able to pile up the wins despite the injuries across the roster is a tribute to management and its decisions. This shows just how far the Wizards have come under Ernie and Eddie.

Butler Dunk in 1st half - Photo by TSF

Gilbert Arenas will miss at least another 3 Months after under going MCL surgery on the same surgically repaired knee.