Dos Sietes Clash

Before you read anything, read the new Boxiana joint by original Master of the Klondike shoefly.

The Spanish sports site Marca.com has a hilarious interview with Rudy Fernandez aka the Spanish Dan Majerle on the shocking discoveries he made during the NBA Rookie Transition Program. Truehoop linked it via Dwight Jaynes's blog, where a bilingual commenter kindly translated the article, but I thought it deserved its own post here. These two quotes in particular jumped out at me.

“They talk about things, which for me are crazy, as if they are normal. For example, yesterday they asked if people had friends who used drugs – and you have no idea how many people raised their hands!"

"It surprised me when the professors told us, as if it were normal, that there are women who look to get pregnant to take your money. They said this as if it happened all the time!”

In a way, it's refreshing to know that, with all of the negative stereotypes about Americans, and African-Americans in particular, that pervade the world, anyone (even a Spaniard) would still be surprised by these things. Plenty of white Americans just assume that a hearty percentage of poor black women use drugs and are gold-diggers. Even we most empathetic of NBA fans will concede that an official NBA program which presumes that its players will be constantly approached by money-grubbing groupies and family members is not per se offensive and is generally a good idea, but if you step back and look at the situation from the outside, it does look pretty absurd and depressing. These are the guys that managed to make it, and there's still the feeling that they need to be saved from themselves.

Fear not that this actual NBA-related post means I've stopped keeping my vigilant watch for all things related to Sarah Palin and the dangers she poses for our great nation. I'm sure you've seen the Anne Kilkenny email (if not: Google it), but I wanted to highlight this juicy bit of Wasilla gossip: "Before she became so powerful, very ugly stories circulated around town about shenanigans she pulled to be made point guard on the high school basketball team." VERY UGLY stories! Shenanigans! I have no idea what she could've done, but I'm guessing some kind of blackmail, or threats involving a moose rifle. So much for all those stories about her state championship and the leadership qualities she displayed.